


Flash forward to Eureka

by Lozza



Category: Eureka
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-29
Updated: 2012-08-29
Packaged: 2017-11-13 03:52:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lozza/pseuds/Lozza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disclaimer: I don't own either Eureka or Flash Forward, unfortunately!</p>
<p>Pairing: Future Jack/Nathan</p>
<p>Summary: Everyone on the planet flashes forward to April 29 2010. What does Jack see?</p>
<p>(If you've not watched Flash Forward I recommend it – its fab!)</p>
<p>This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own. This is not a cross over</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Flash Forward to Eureka by Lozzimal

 

Sheriff Jack Carter stared at the annoying scientist in front of him disbelief. "You did what, Fargo?" he demanded, angrily trying not to laugh. "You tried to do what to LoJack?"

Fargo looked contrite and embarrassed at the same time, and looked away from the Sheriff to the doctor wrapping his hand in a bandage. "I tried to sheer him." he said quietly again and then looked up when the Sheriff laughed. "He was moulting everywhere!" he protested. "He always manages to get into GD, however much we try to stop him, and there's dog hair all over my experiments!"

Jack wasn't going to tell him that that was because the dog had more brains than most of the scientists at GD, and that Taggart was letting him in to help with his own experiments. They both liked to see the confusion in the normally arrogant geniuses when they were trying to figure out where the dog hair had come from. "I'm not surprised he jumped you." Jack told the twit in front of him. "You should feel lucky that he only grabbed the sheers from your hand, rather than your throat."

Fargo nodded dejectedly, but then looked up again. "But I did get injured." he protested and tried to show him his hand. "Maybe that is enough to get him shaved?"

Jack shook his head, grinning at him. "You only got hurt because you jumped back and…" He was going to tell him that he had banged into something sharp that he had left out and caused his own injury. But then, all of a sudden, he was somewhere, some time else.

Along with everyone else in the world.

 

***************************************************

He could hear screaming, a horrid yell of pain that was being ripped out of the throat of someone he cared about, and he looked around to see what he could do to alleviate it. Jack found himself in a lab, the same lab his life had virtually ended almost a year before and he searched around it for what was emitting that noise. Nathan was there, which was amazing to him, but he was on the ground by that crappy time machine, in a tight ball, screaming in agony. Jack ran towards him, but before he could Henry grabbed him in a tight grip and stopped him. The Doctor also looked pained, but he shook his head. "We can't stop it now." he said to the Sheriff quickly. "Its almost done, he's almost back."

Jack stared at him and could do nothing else but press his hands to his ears to try and block out the noise.

He studied what was going on and noticed that Nathan seemed to be enclosed in a box of some sort of energy, that he was almost transparent at first but seemed to be getting more solid, and Henry was doing something with a device that the Sheriff hadn't seen before. A device, there's always a device.

The other doctor concentrated on his equipment and laptop, speaking with SARAH, which was also an oddity, and all the time that horrible noise was coming from the floor.

Soon enough though, the noise stopped, the box of energy dissipated, and Henry grinned triumphantly at Jack and let him go. "He's back!" he crowed. "It worked! Jack, you're a genius!"

Jack didn't say a word to him, as soon as he felt him let him go he was running towards Nathan, getting there in five strides. With a curse he fell to his knees beside him and grabbed him, pulling him into his arms and holding him tight. "Nathan." he murmured and buried his face in the scientist's hair as he cradled him close. "Oh God, Nathan."

Nathan groaned and buried his face as far into Jack's throat as he could, trying to leach as much heat and feeling out of him as he could.

Henry walked over quickly with a grin and crouched beside them. He wrapped a blanket he had with him tightly around Nathan's body, and gently rubbed his back when both Nathan and Jack looked up at him. "April 29th, 2010." he said fondly to them both. "Your Re-Birthday, Nathan."

Nathan smiled weakly and collapsed back against the Sheriff. "Thanks." he murmured gratefully. "Really. But I don't want to do that again. Ever."

"Not going to let you go again, ever." Jack assured him, and held him a little tighter. "Ever."

Nathan said nothing for a few moments, and Jack, concerned he had passed out, pulled away a little so he could look down at him. "Are you all right?" he asked him worriedly. He looked up at Henry when his armful said nothing, just looked at him. "We need to get him to the infirmary." he said to him.

Henry nodded and went over to his console again to call for some help.

Jack looked back at Nathan, and saw him smile a little at him. I'm okay, Jack." the scientist said to him. "Rebirth, I like that."

Jack found himself smiling at him. "I'm not changing your diapers." he commented, amused. "You're gonna have to go through potty training quickly."

Nathan laughed quietly and moved one hand to lightly touch Jack's face. With a smile at him he cupped his cheek in his hand and quickly pressed his lips to the Sheriff's in a light kiss. Jack stared at him for a moment in shock, then mentally shrugged and kissed him back, hot and heavy, putting all he felt for the arrogant returned scientist in his arms. "I care." he murmured when they broke off quickly for air, and then dove in for some more, tasting Nathan's smile.

 

*******************************************************

 

Jack groaned quietly and opened his eyes. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, and found himself on the floor of the infirmary, where he had been standing just moments before. With another groan he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the floor and looked around him for some explanation. But he didn't get a definitive one. The other people that had been wandering around the infirmary when he had been talking to Fargo were also pulling themselves off the floor, all looking bewildered. "What the hell was that?" Fargo himself asked groggily from the gurney he had been sitting on, in front if the Sheriff. He also pushed himself up into a sitting position and was looking around, and he watched Jack reach up and use the edge of the bed to stand. "I have no idea." Jack told him truthfully as he looked around.

Even though he was concerned, bewildered and worried, he knew he had a job to do. First things first – he pulled out his mobile and used the speed dial to call Zoe.

It was a few hours later when he finally managed to get back to the Bunker and collapse onto the sofa with a groan. Zoe was already there and she sat beside him, leaning close against him, not complaining when he wrapped his arm around her to hold her close. "Are you okay. Zo?" he asked her quietly, his eyes closed tightly.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Dad." she replied, her voice as quiet as her father's. "Just a bit of an odd day."

"Uh huh." her father agreed grimly. "Just a bit." He was exhausted, he had gone through all of the current experiments with Henry and Fargo, when they had all managed to pull themselves together and found that none of them could have caused what seemed to be at least a town wide phenomenon. And that was when they had begun to find the first victims. All in all six people had died at GD, the one Jack had actually spent time with was Doctor Rivers who had drowned in her own syn water. Another three had been found dead in the town, one in a car accident on main street, someone else had been mangled by their lawn mower and another had seemingly had a heart attack. About twenty had been injured and were in the infirmary, others were walking wounded and had been sent home, but Jack was certain that he and Jo would find more victims over the next few days.

And through it all Jack had been distracted by his own vision in the two minutes seventeen seconds he had been forward dreaming. At first he had thought it was wishful thinking, he had after all dreamt about Nathan and lusted after him for almost as long as he had known him. Watching him disappear in front of him and being unable to do anything about it had torn him apart, he had fallen hard and fast for Stark and losing him had wiped him out. And seeing him, feeling him, hearing him in his arms, solid and alive, was conflicting him. He wanted it so much, but he dared not hope that it would happen. He needed to speak to Henry about it, but the scientist had been busy trying to stop any uncontrolled experiments from overrunning the building.

Now he was home, and all he could do was hug his daughter and revel in the taste of Nathan's mouth that lingered on his lips.

He waited until Zo finally fell asleep beside him before he spoke to the one person he knew would help him. "SARAH, how are you getting on with the Nathan Project?" he asked her quietly.

"Quite well, thank you, Jack." she replied to him as quietly, mindful of his request to keep Zoe out of their joint project. "But I have come to an impasse. Will Doctor Deacon help?"

Jack smiled. "Oh yeah, he will." he told her, suddenly pleased with the world. "I'll ask him in the morning." he assured her, and closed his eyes and licked his lips, thinking about what could be.


	2. part 2

Part 2

Jack was pleased when he got to the Sheriff's office the next morning to find Henry was already there. He was playing with Jo's Magic 8 ball, slouched in Jack's chair with his feet in his desk, and he grinned at the Sheriff when he walked in. "Morning, Jack." he greeted him brightly. "You okay?"

Jack nodded and perched a hip on the side of his desk. "I'm fine, you?"

Henry nodded and watched the Sheriff for a few moments before he said anything. "I didn't know you felt that way about Nathan." he said quietly after a few moments, moving his feet from the desk to place them on the floor. "How long?" he asked him. "Did he know? And why didn't you tell me?"

Jack looked away for a few moments, trying to think of a reason why he shouldn't tell him. But nothing was forthcoming. "A long time." he explained eventually. "Since a month of two after I arrived." he admitted to him. "And especially after the nanites." he explained. "An army of Nathan Stark's?" He looked up at Henry and smiled wryly. "I didn't know whether it was heaven or hell!"

Henry smiled fondly at him. "I know what you mean." he agreed.

Jack's smile grew and he looked away again. "And then there was Callister." he added. And then found himself in the car again on the way to the bus station with Nathan – two scared fathers chasing after their respective children.

He sighed and looked up at Henry again. "He didn't know." he said quietly after a few moments. "Or if he did, he didn't say or do anything to let on."

Henry studied him for a few moments, thinking about what he said. He'd known Nathan a long time, and prided himself on reading him a bit better than most people, including Alison. He knew Nathan had enjoyed sparring with the Sheriff, he had made sure he had been involved in anything Jack had to do at GD, and had worked harder than them all when Jack had been hurt. But whether his feelings for Jack ran further than that, he hadn't been able to tell.

But then again, he thought to himself as he studied his friend in front of him, who was avidly looking at the floor, he hadn't guessed about his feelings for Nathan either. They had both hidden it very well.

"So, yesterday." he said after a while to break the silence. "I saw you, me and SARAH at a lab in GD, doing something to bring him back." he told the Sheriff. "You?"

Jack nodded and smiled to himself. "That's about it." he agreed. "And it seemed to work too."

Henry nodded thoughtfully. "Have you been working on it?" he asked. It was a question he had wanted to ask since he had come too from his own vision, when he had realised he had not done it all on his own.

Jack nodded, and Henry thought he saw him blush a little! "Well, I've asked SARAH to work on it." he admitted. "After Tess and I were forced into another dimension. We could only interact with each other. I wondered whether there were more." He looked up and caught Henry in an intense gaze. "I didn't know there might be 11 dimensions." he told him. "Or lots of universes. He could be anywhere, any when."

Henry thought about it and shook his head. "We can narrow it down." he assured him. "I need to study that machine."

Jack nodded. "Tess had it moved." he explained. "Not destroyed."

"Do you know where it is?" Henry asked him quickly and stood up. He was interested, something to do that could bring back a friend, and make another one happy. When Jack nodded he grabbed his arm and pulled him back out of the office, towards his own truck parked outside. He didn't stop when Jo got out of her car, parked next to Jack's jalopy, didn't even notice that Jack called an assurance over to her as she reached for her gun, thinking he was being kidnapped. Henry was thinking too much, and too quickly, to care what was going on around them.

Possibilities were running through his mind, ideas that stemmed from Jack's comment – he needed to look at the machine to find out where or when it had sent the scientist, and what he needed to do to get him back.

From what he had seen yesterday he, Jack and SARAH had re-built the machine to work, it had been plugged into GD's mainframe, his own computer was measuring a huge power use from it, but it hadn't told him how they had gotten to that point. He pushed Jack towards the passenger door, and walked round to get into the driver's side of his recovery truck, and didn't even make sure the Sheriff was in before he started the engine and headed out towards GD.

Alison, back from maternity leave, was a bit surprised to see them both, especially with Henry so excited. She hadn't seen him so riled up for a long time, and his enthusiasm was contagious. Until he explained to her what they were there for.

As soon as he mentioned Nathan and the machine, her face fell and she turned to Jack with an expression he could only explain as a hurt, bewildered glare. "Do you like torturing me, Sheriff?" she demanded of him, and turned away when he frowned at her.

"Of course not, Alison." Jack replied with a confused look at his counterpart. Henry was also frowning, he had thought she would jump at the chance of getting her late fiancé back.

And then Henry got it. "What did you see in your flash forward?" he asked her, using the term that had been bandied around since it happened. "Alison?" he demanded from her when she didn't say anything, or turn around. "You saw us, didn't you?" he asked her and took a couple of steps towards her. "You saw us get Nathan back."

Jack stared at him, and then back at her, understanding. "What did you see, Alison?" he asked her quietly, knowing it anyway.

She turned on him and glared at him. "You know what I saw!" she snapped at him, and closed her eyes to see it again. She had been in the observation booth in her vision, watching, aghast, as the pair of men in front of her brought her husband back from the dead. She remembered being astounded when it seemed to work, overjoyed when he seemed to be solid in Jack's grip.

Which then turned into shock and horror when she watched the love of her life reach up and caress someone else's face, and kiss someone else, not once but twice. And it was worse that it was Jack – not that he was a man, she didn't care about that. What she cared about was the Sheriff had been her rock through a lot of things, especially since Nathan had died, and now she found out… what? "How long?" she demanded of him. "How long were you and Nathan sleeping together?"

Jack shook his head. "We weren't." he told her firmly. "Nathan and I did nothing more than hug, and that was only once when we stopped one of those stupid experiments from destroying the planet." He wasn't telling her the complete truth and just hoped that she didn't notice.

She frowned as she remembered that – the pair had just stopped an experiment that some stupid scientist had let get way out of control. Nathan and Jack had worked quickly and closely together, surrounded by flying debris, and she, and everyone else, had thought that they were both going to die there and then. But they stopped it, and as soon as they had received the all clear from her, Alison remembered they had caught each other in a quick, tight hug of relief.

And almost as soon as it had happened, they had both pulled away and Nathan had stormed off after the scientist who had caused the problem in the first place.

"That's it?" she asked the Sheriff, a little less assured.

Jack nodded. "He was gonna marry you, Alison." he told her bleakly and looked away from her. "I lost out on both of you the moment he asked you."

Alison watched him for a moment and then relaxed. He was telling her the truth, at least about the marriage, the slump of his shoulders, the bleak tone of his voice, the way that he was staring at his hands told her that. She sighed and walked over to him. "I'm sorry, Jack." she told him and gently laid a hand on his shoulder, and then turned to Henry. "The machine is in section 5, storage H." she told him. "I'll get someone to move it and all the associated computers, files and paperwork on it to your lab."

"Thank you, Alison." Henry told her sincerely. She nodded and walked over to her desk and phone and called whoever to get it done.

Henry walked over to Jack and stood close to him. "Are you all right?" he asked him quietly, concerned that he hadn't looked up when Alison had given her consent.

Jack looked up at him and tried to smile, but it didn't work. "I just want him back, Henry." he said softly to him. "I can cope if he comes back and heads straight to Alison."

Henry laid a hand on his arm and squeezed gently in reassurance. He didn't believe a word of it, he knew Jack's words were hollow bravado, but he didn't confront him on them. Not there, not then.

 

***********************************************

 

As soon as Alison had given the word, things started to happen. In about twenty minutes everything was moved to Henry's lab, the work on the machine was loaded onto another laptop there too, and Jack felt even more useless than he normally did. All he could do was watch as Henry tapped away on two laptops, speak geek-speak to Alison who had followed them, and not understand a word. He was almost relieved when his phone buzzed and he pulled it out to answer. It was Jo and she had yet another emergency with yet another scientist who had no common sense and he had to leave. And Henry and Alison didn't notice when he told them that and walked out of the lab.

Jack lay in bed that night and remembered Nathan again - of the first time he and Nathan had managed to get laid.

Nathan looked up from his work and smiled when he spotted the Sheriff had walked into his office. Jack looked concerned, and he smiled when he spotted Nathan looking at him. "Scientist." he greeted him. "Are you all right? No ill effects?"

Nathan shook his head and stood up, using the small control on his desk to lock the office door and turn the windows opaque as he did so. "I'm fine." he assured him, and walked over to him. "Thanks to you."

Jack shook his head with a smile and watched him walk over to him, studying him. Nathan strode over like he owned the place, looking completely healthy, not as if he had been a patient in the infirmary a few hours ago. "Are you sure you're okay?" Jack asked him as he got to him. "The docs said you should have rested a bit more. You did almost cook in your own skin."

Nathan stood in front of him and smiled down at him. "I'm fine." he assured him again. "You and Henry got to me in time. The doctors in the infirmary are just over cautious."

Jack nodded and looked him up and down. "You look okay." he agreed. "But I had thought you'd be with Alison."

Nathan smiled at him and got in his personal space. "Then why are you here, Jack?" he asked him, his voice a little husky.

"I'm just here to ch…" the Sheriff tried to tell him as he watched the Scientist lean closer to him. "Check whether you're okay." he managed, and stared at Nathan as the taller man gently cupped his face in his large hands. "Errr, Nathan? What are you doing?"

"Push me away, Sheriff." Nathan murmured, and covered his mouth with his own in a gentle kiss. Jack was surprised at his actions but not upset, and he found himself leaning into his kiss and responding. Stark tasted like nothing else, sweet and savoury, hot and cold, body hard against him but the skin of his hands soft on his face. Jack knew Nathan had almost died a couple of days ago, that the artifact had almost cooked him, that he was probably taking advantage of the man when he really should be at home with Alison, but when Nathan brushed his tongue over Jack's lips for entrance, he didn't care.

The Sheriff slipped a hand around Nathan's neck and pulled him closer and used the other hand to cup the director's ass cheek. Nathan pulled away a little and smiled down at him. "You didn't push me away." he murmured, and lightly kissed the side of his mouth.

Jack shook his head. "I also didn't ask you to stop, Scientist." he retorted, and pulled him close again for more.

It hadn't taken long for the pair of them to gravitate to one of the sofas in the office, Nathan nibbling on Jack's neck while the Sheriff quickly divested him of his jacket, shirt and tie without too much trouble. Nathan was also busy with his own hands, stripping the Sheriff of his work shirt quickly. He had to pull away momentarily so he could pull Jack's undershirt up, over his head and off, and he concentrated on exploring his chest while Jack fumbled with Nathan's belt. The Scientist groaned as the Sheriff nuzzled one of his nipples, and groaned again, murmuring "Sheriff" when Jack licked and sucked on it. He groaned again when Jack unzipped his fly and slipped his hands in and explored.

Jack remembered being surprised for a moment that they had not fought for dominance, but then hadn't cared. They ended up having sex a couple of times on Nathan's sofa, both having each other, and were going to start again when Jack's beeper had chirruped from somewhere in the clothes pile a few feet away that they had created. He had ignored it, preferring to make out with his lover, but it kept on. And then his phone had started to ring too.

He had had to leave, and that crisis had become number 38 on the list of reasons to kill Fargo.

They'd had a couple of repeat performances, but it had never seemed to become serious, for Nathan any way. Jack had hoped, but almost as soon as he had decided to do something more positive to get a decent relationship with Stark, his world caved in and the Scientist had asked Alison to marry him. Again.

With a groan Jack laid down in bed and pulled the covers up over his head. "Stark, I swear to God, when we get you back I'm gonna kick your butt for that." he murmured to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to relax. "She had you once and kicked you out, its my turn now."

 

*****************************************************

 

Even SARAH sounded surprised the following morning when she told the Sheriff they had a visitor. "Jack, Doctor Deacon is at the door." she told him, and added: "Yes, I know." when he checked his watch.

It was seven am, Jack was just finishing off his breakfast, and Henry was never up and out before ten am normally. With a huff Jack stood and walked over to the door. "He may be here to talk to you about Project Nathan." he told her as he thought about it. "Save everything, SARAH." he asked her. "Whatever he says. You know how important it is to me."

"Of course Sheriff." SARAH assured him. She had access to an off site data storage facility that Fargo couldn't trace or access, Jack had no idea where it was or why she had felt the need for it. But he was also aware that SARAH was a computer, and as a computer she could have her memory wiped. He did not want that to happen, she had achieved a lot already and losing it could be devastating to their project. "And open the door." he added as almost an afterthought.

Henry was smiling when he walked in, and Jack again had to check the wall clock to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Morning Henry." he greeted him. "You do realise it's just gone seven am?"

"Ha ha." Henry commented drily as he walked over to the Sheriff and the breakfast bar. "I'm aware. SARAH, can I have a strong coffee?"

"Of course Doctor Deacon." the AI agreed affably. "Your usual?"

"Please." he answered and quickly nabbed a pastry before he grabbed his coffee from the dispenser in the fridge and joined Jack at the breakfast bar.

The Sheriff was smiling at him as he definitely made himself at home. "What have you dragged yourself out of bed for, Henry?" he asked him fondly as he picked up his own coffee.

Henry smiled at him and sipped his own coffee. "I've come over to pick SARAH's brains about transdimentional quantum seismology." he explained to him cheerfully. "And thought it best to get here when you were still here, not later when you'd be a work. Just to be polite of course." he added impishly.

Jack smiled and nodded, and sipped his coffee. "Uh huh." he murmured. Some times he thought his friend made up some of these statements he came out with, just to have a laugh at the Sheriff's expense. And SARAH was in on it.

Henry grinned at him and got out his laptop, setting it up in front of him, and Jack sighed to himself and sipped his coffee as he listened to the pair of them rattle things off to each other. The only way he knew Henry was getting the answers he wanted was his increasing smile and typing speed, the Sheriff did think at some point he was seeing steam coming off the keyboard!

But he couldn't sit there all day, he had work to do, and he thought he would probably go nutty if he listened to any more of their conversation. Words like nutrinos, or nintendos, he couldn't tell, branes both m and p (he sort of knew what they were), strings (he thought that was for tying things up with, not the bases of wormholes), and interdimensional space between electrons may actually make his 111 IQ point brain leak out through his ears. But he didn't mention that to Henry.

Instead he stood and stretched, and put his cup in the sink. "I have to go you two." he told them, and then said it again louder, when neither took any notice. "I have to go to work!"

Henry looked up at him with a slight frown. "No need to shout, Jack." he admonished him gently, and smiled a little when his friend sighed and shook his head.

"Well, I do." the Sheriff carried on. "So let me know when you leave, and SARAH, don't forget what I said earlier." he added to remind her.

"Of course Sheriff." the AI agreed, and Jack, satisfied, squeezed Henry's shoulder as he walked passed him. "Later, Henry."

"Later Jack." they both said to each other, and he left.

 

*****************************************************

Jo was at the office, as usual, when he arrived, and she was speaking to someone on the phone. She looked grim faced, and told whoever it was that they would be right there, which stopped him in his tracks. "What?" he asked her when she hung up and stood.

"Another body." she informed him, and he sighed and followed her back out of the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack was continually surprised at how many ways there were for people to die around here. The body, a man he didn't recognise, was slumped in a chair in the living room of the house, a large hole in his chest. He looked a little closer and frowned – the weapon used was still embedded in the said hole. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone killed by a spoon before." He said to Jo, standing next to him.

She quirked the side of her mouth slightly in a tiny smile. "Someone tried to cut his heart out, maybe?" she asked him.

Jack smiled a bit too, knowing exactly what movie she was quoting. "Do you know who he is?" he asked her as he looked around the room.

"Doctor Peter Quigley." she answered him as she too looked around. "He was a nuclear physicist."

Jack nodded and pulled out his mobile. He quickly called Henry. "Is this the coroner's office?" he asked, his tone light despite what he was standing next to.

Henry sighed. "Another one, Jack?" he asked, his voice tired. "Who, where, how?"

"Jo says Doctor Quigley." Jack replied as he looked back at the corpse. He rattled off the address. "But this one is not a result of the blackout." He added quickly. "Someone definitely didn't want this guy going to work."

He could hear Henry's frown in his voice. "I'll be there in ten." He told him, and hung up.

Jack, gratified, turned back to Jo. "Did you bring the CSI gear?" he asked her, knowing she did, but just to annoy her. It worked; she glared at him, and did not ordain that with an answer. Instead she left him in the house and went back to the cars to get the gear, and he helped her set it up. He had spotted some inconsistencies before they started the stuff up, which confirmed his suspicions.

Henry was on the scene in a few minutes, and he took one look at it and glanced over at Jack. "Not the blackout then." He commented darkly.

Jack nodded. "Definitely not." He agreed as darkly. "Definitely not."

 

************************************************************

 

The investigation kept Jack busy all day and he mostly forgot about Nathan Stark, mostly. A good old fashioned murder enquiry had taken him back to his Marshall days, and before, although he did remember that he hadn't liked rummaging around in someone's personal life. Not that Quigley had one. "All work and no play made Peter a dull boy." he murmured to himself as he read the guy's file he had virtually had to steal from Fargo. He'd gone to GD after Henry had made a definitive identification and asked around if anyone had known the guy, but no-one really had. Even Alison didn't know much about him, she didn't have much to do with him once he had joined GD a couple of years ago.

Jo looked up at him from her desk but didn't say anything. They had returned to the office after Henry had taken away the body and they had finished up the forensic analysis. She was looked at the results now. "The spoon was decoration." She told him as the results scrolled on her screen. "He was stabbed with something else."

Jack looked up at her. "It looks as if he had worked here for a while." He explained as well. "But no-one really knows about him because he just worked all the time. He didn't cause anything to blow up, he didn't seem to have any enemies, or friends either."

Jo looked up at him again. "He had at least one enemy." She commented darkly.

Jack nodded his agreement. "I couldn't get to talk to his assistants earlier." He mused. "They were doing some sort of radiation experiment."

Before Jo could say anything more Jack's phone rang and he checked the caller ID. "It's Henry." He told his deputy, and answered it. "Henry." He began. "Ha…?"

Before he could ask Henry cut him off, his voice sharp. "Did you touch the body?" he demanded quickly. "You or Jo?"

Jack frowned and looked over at his companion. "No, I didn't." he assured him. "Jo, did you touch the body?" he asked her.

She gave him a withering look. "Of course not, Carter. Why?"

Jack shrugged. "Neither of us did, Henry." He assured his friend. "Why?"

"Quigley was radioactive." The scientist said quickly. "You and Jo need to get back to GD straight away. No arguments Jack." He added, cutting off any argument the Sheriff might have. "We'll be waiting for you. Got it?" he demanded.

"On our way, Henry." Jack assured him, and hung up when he heard the dial tone. With a frown he turned back to Jo. "We need to get to GD." He told her. "Quigley was radioactive. We gotta get tested."

She swore as she stood and gathered her badge and gun. "I guess we'd better go then." She said quietly, and followed him out of the door.

 

********************************************************

 

Jack spent the time he was being scrubbed down thinking about how they could get Stark back. From what he knew about the machine, that SARAH had told him, was that it had sent the scientist somewhere else, but a place, if they could find it, he could be returned to him, them. They needed some sort of anchor, he thought, something they could send through so that he could find his way home, like a lantern put outside for the missing. But then, as the guy in the space suit scrubbed a bit too hard on one of his butt cheeks, his thoughts flashed back to a couple of weeks ago to when his computer at work had crashed – due to some sort of power failure. It had saved the last thing he was working on, and recovered the file, he had only had to re input a few lines, not the whole thing. Was that sort of thing embedded in that stupid time machine as well? Only Henry knew, and he was counting rads in a booth not too far away.

"Henry?" Jack yelled at him as he tried to push the guy scrubbing him down away. "Henry!"

"Right here Jack." His friend's voice floated over a tannoy to him. "I know it's uncomfortable but you've got to let him do his job. Neither of you got fatal doses but I don't want you getting cancer or radiation poisoning."

Jack huffed impatiently. "I know, you said already." He replied. "I've had an idea, about that other thing." He tried to explain, hoping he'd understand.

Henry did, there was only one thing on Jack's mind at the moment after all. "Good, we'll talk when you're done."

He was good to his word, waiting for his friend to be allowed out dressed in a formless jump suit and rubbing his hair with a towel. Jack was not annoyed at the situation, which surprised the doctor, he was too engrossed in the other problem, and he smiled at Henry when he walked out of the decon changing room to see him standing there waiting for him. With a large Vinspresso in each hand. Henry grinned as Jo came out of the other room, sighed at the sight and didn't even say anything to him before he had handed her a cup. She sipped it, eyes closed, and savoured it. "Thanks Henry." She said gratefully, and then looked over at Carter, just taking his own cup from his friend. "I'm gonna find Zane." She told him, not really giving him the option, not that he would stop her. "I'll see you later."

"Sure." He agreed, and sipped his coffee as he watched her go. When she had left the area he turned back to Henry. "Thanks Henry." he said gratefully. He put the towel down and concentrated on taking a mouthful of caffeine, feeling it warm its way down all way to his feet. Henry took him over to a table and couple of chairs he hadn't noticed a way off from the changing room doors where had set up his laptop and made his sit down before they started. "What have you come up with?" he asked him as he watched him sit down.

"I don't know much about what happened." he explained first of all, just in case he sounded like a complete idiot. "But what if we use that time machine and send out some of anchor for him, something to guide him back? Like a jet from a black hole? Or…" he added quickly as Henry frowned at him. "Does that machine have an auto save function? My computer does, it crashed last week but had saved most of the work I was doing. I think most computers have that, would that crappy machine have the same thing?"

Henry thought for a few moments and turned to his laptop, typing furiously for a few moments. "You might have a good idea there." he told him as he looked at the equations on his screen. "I don't know where he is, or when he is, but a guide light wouldn't hurt." He looked up at him suddenly. "How did you know about jets from black holes?" he asked him curiously with a fond smile. "I thought science wasn't your thing."

Jack looked away and shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I like to know what's going on above my head." he explained to him, and drank some more coffee. He sighed and looked up at his friend for a moment before he said anything, and Henry waited for him to speak. But had to do something as the silence extended. "What Jack?" he asked him, concerned. "What is it?"

"Do you really think we can do this?" the Sheriff asked him darkly. "That he's out there somewhere? Somewhere we can get him back from, I mean?"

Henry knew he needed the truth from him, so he wasn't going to lie and give him platitudes that he knew his friend would see right through. "I don't know." he told him honestly. "But I'm not ruling it out as wishful thinking on yours, or my part." he added with a slight smile. "This is Eureka after all. And, we know that machine didn't kill him as such, that instead it sent him somewhen, so it's a case of finding out where, and when. As you've already said." he added. "I can do the anchor," he assured him. "We can send him something through a smaller version of time machine SARAH and I have come up with." he said to him as he turned back to his computer. "She said that was your idea too." he commented with a smile.

Jack shrugged and blushed a little, so he turned away. "Seemed like an idea." he said, almost shyly. "My Dad and I used to make models to find out how things worked." he explained. "He was an engineer."

Henry nodded and carried on typing. He was silent for a while, but Jack didn't miss the grin that appeared on his face when he had gotten something. "What?" the Sheriff asked him quickly and stepped forward. "What have you got?"

"Access to the transmitter." Henry answered. "Something Tess agreed to, its on the roof and most people don't know it's there. If I can do this….." he added, elongating the word as he typed furiously. Jack really wanted to know what he was doing, how he was going to do it and what would happen, but he knew better than to disturb him with Henry was on a roll. It took a few moments of furious typing for Henry to do whatever, and he suddenly laughed, pressed enter with a flourish, and looked up at Jack. "I've just set up a low level pulse of, well, anchor chain." he explained to his friend. "It won't use a lot of power so we can keep it off the grid, I've set it as a wide range wavelength until we get the model set up. I can then set it to be more specific."

Jack looked at him as he figured it out and nodded. "So, at the moment, its like a lighthouse in the middle of the Pacific, and I'm looking for it from here." he commented.

Henry thought about it and nodded. "But as if it was flat between here and there, and no lights apart from the house." he explained. "Its noticeable, but not blinding. Not yet."

"Thanks, Henry." the Sheriff thanked him sincerely as he sipped his vinspresso. "Really, thanks."

Henry nodded and reached over and give his shoulder a companionable squeeze. "Whatever I can do, Jack." he assured him.

 

***************************************************

 

Jack worked the rest of the day on trying to identify the murder weapon, and a motive for the case. He must have spent hours watching the computers in his office scan the information Henry had emailed him about the weapon while checking any records he could find about the good doctor. About eight PM when his headache had started to make him feel sick, he saved it all and decided to go home, to his empty bunker, filled with empty thoughts and empty feelings. He sighed when SARAH greeted him, ate a small meal of toast and soup, downed a couple of painkillers and went to bed.

Jack woke the next morning feeling almost as bad as he had when he had crawled into bed. His head still ached, he'd had bad dreams all night, slept badly, heard Nathan Stark argue with him all night, some of their most vicious moments replaying in his mind, the scientist telling him how stupid he was, how bad he was for the town, etc. His own psyche added things Nathan had never actually said to him – that he should never had accepted the job here, that Zoe would have been much better off if he'd had left her with her mother after the divorce and stayed out of her life, that it should have been him in the chamber rather than Nathan. That he had no right to think, hope, that someone like Nathan Stark would even know he existed, let alone care about him.

With a growl he rolled out of bed, had a cold, painful shower in the hope it would make him feel …. something other than the crap he was wallowing in, but it didn't work. He dressed in a daze, like a zombie, bypassed the breakfast SARAH had prepared for him because of the urge to pour beer over his cereal or a whiskey shot into his coffee, and went to work. Just hoping he could bury himself in the stuff waiting for him, rather than his own maudlin, depressing thoughts.

 

The Sheriff was kept busy most of the day, what with the usual stuff going on – Fargo and Zane at each other's necks, literally at one point, Larry being an ass, Gods knew how many petty arguments between the other residents of a small town, and the murder enquiry hanging over his head, it was eight pm again before he had even thought about Henry, Nathan or Alison. And by that time he was starving, exhausted, and his head throbbing so much he thought people could see it pulsate. He decided, well, Jo had demanded he either go home now or she would drag him to her car and drive him home, that it was time to leave it for the day and get some sleep. SARAH had made him something to eat, probably been talking to Jo, he thought as he forced it down his throat, and did the same thing as the night before – showered, painkillers and sleep.

And the rest of the week seemed to go the same way – work, petty arguments, residents yelling at him over their silly little problems – seriously, was a garden hedge enough to set someone's house on fire? – no progress on the dead nuclear physicist, and seemingly no progress on Project Nathan. SARAH did tell him that she and Henry had been working on the model the mechanic has told him about, but progress was slow, painfully slow. And Henry had started to avoid him. But then again, he was being a bit of a jerk himself, from what Jo was telling him, frequently and vehemently. She had even gone to the extent of getting Zoe call him from her university every day, and suggested he even took some time off to go back to Australia to see Tess.

But that had made him realise how he had caused the fiery redhead more pain than he actually had. He had known he cared about Stark before, had been bewildered about it, and had found himself feeling a lot of grief when he had … left. He had realised during his burgeoning relationship with Tess that he was holding back with her, that he was still holding a candle for both Alison and Nathan, definitely not going to get one and probably not going to get the other either.

And then the Flashforward occurred, and he found he had hope again. Which was dissipating quickly as the days moved on with no more progress.

 

******************************************************

 

Jack finally caught up with Henry when they received a panicked call from him five days or so since he had last spoken to him. He was in his auto shop when Jack arrived, the place looked a mess and was virtually on fire. Jack too one look at the mess around and grabbed a fire extinguisher from Henry, shoving him back out of the door. "Jo, fire control!" he shouted, and tacked the fire himself.

The building, wooden, a remnant of the previous build, caught alight quickly, despite all of the Sheriff's efforts, but he was concentrating so much on trying to deal with the seat of the fire he didn't notice until almost too late that tendrils of it were licking at a supply of acetylene canisters stored in a corner. "Shit!" he yelled, and ran like hell for the front door. "Jo!" he yelled as he saw her in the doorway. "It's gonna blow! Run!" Evan as he said it he knew he was too late – he could hear the gas hissing and crackling, and, as Jo turned and ran, more heat blossomed behind him as the canisters blew, along with a shock wave that shoved him off his feet. The noise of the explosion followed, crowding out Jo's shout, and all Jack could do was curl up and cover his head with his arms, trying to protect himself.

Jo and Henry stared in horror as the front of the garage seemed to disintegrate around the sprinting Sheriff and he disappeared in a fireball and mass of debris. The scientist grabbed the deputy before she could go running into the fireball and get hurt, knowing Jack would be very pissed if he didn't. Instead he waited for the initial burst to die down before he approached the scene himself, trying to protect himself from the heat of the fire with a hand over his face. "JACK?" he yelled, looking around desperately for his friend. "Can you hear me? Jack?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Jack!" Henry yelled again as he searched through the burning wreckage of his garage. The fire was dying down, luckily he had protected the fuel pumps and underground tanks when he had first taken on the place so they weren't going to blow any time soon, but he dared not use the fire extinguishing chemicals in the truck behind him until he had made sure the Sheriff was out of harm's way. There was debris everywhere though, he had had lots of equipment in the garage, let alone what was left of the building, and he was grateful when he heard Jo on the phone to GD for medical help and back up from their security. "Jack!" he yelled again, and pulled away some rubble and smouldering wood to see if he could find him underneath. "Jack!"

The Sheriff couldn't have gone far, so Henry took a breath and looked at the remains of his building, trying to visualise where Jack was when it had blown. The front of his garage had been blown out, leaving the back and a couple of sides remaining, and he could see a lot of rubble inside. There was a lot of rubble outside, as it had mushroomed out, and only a couple of places was it deep enough to hide a … a body.

It didn't take too long to find him once the doctor had thought about it, but typically, Jack was sprawled out on the ground with what seemed to be the remnants of Henry's anti grav experiment across his back. "Jo!" Henry called over as he was moving some wood from his friend. "A little help?"

The deputy ran over, and between them they managed to lift and shove the heavy piece of mangled metal off and to the side of the Sheriff. Both quickly knelt beside him and the deputy quickly pressed two of her fingers to the pulse point in Jack's neck, waiting worriedly for a few moments. When she sighed in relief Henry knew she had found something. "He's alive." she told him, and sat back and watched while Henry quickly took over. He didn't move Jack, just did a quick visual survey, and noted the blood on his scalp. It was difficult for the doctor to carry out basic first aid, he was petrified that if he moved Jack he'd cause him more problems, but Henry had managed to ascertain that he wasn't bleeding out from any external wounds, and he couldn't feel any suspicious lumps, bumps or swellings on his neck, back or three of his four extremities. But the way he had reacted – slight groan, trying to move away – when Henry placed a hand on his ribs where they had been covered by the cooling metal, he had not escaped unscathed. And even as Henry looked up to Jo, just about to ask her about medical help, GD's paramedics arrived in their vehicle, the driver standing on the brakes when she saw the mess. Her colleague leapt out almost before the vehicle had come to a halt, lugging his bag with him, and jogged over to them, quickly getting to his knees beside the downed Sheriff.

Jo sat back as Henry and the paramedics spoke about her friend, who was still unconscious in front of her. There was nothing she could do for him, and she hated that. She hated that he was hurt, again, that she would have to call Zoe and let her know, and that she didn't know whether he was going to be okay or not. So she did all she could, and stood to give the three room to work and meet the arriving security personnel – there were protocols to follow with accidents such as this, investigations to carry out, and she knew Jack himself would prefer that she carried them out, rather than some DOD bod he didn't really know or trust. So she busied herself in organising the newcomers, some on fire control, another couple on cordons, two more helping Henry and the paramedics to get the Sheriff on a spinal board and carried away. She couldn't help but look at his slack form as he was carried past her – his uniform was singed in some places, she'd seen it burnt away in a couple of places on his legs, his left arm in a splint, neck brace and restraints keeping him still. Normally he was always moving, doing something, even when he slept he moved around a little, but this? The only thing that let her know he wasn't a charred corpse was the steady movement of his chest, thanks to the oxygen mask covering his face, and she hated watching that too.

Henry, following the four people carrying his friend, stopped beside the Deputy quickly. "Do you want to go with him?" he asked, studying her.

Jo looked uncertain for a moment, torn between wanting to do that or making sure this place was made safe, but she shook her head after a few moments. "You go." she told him firmly and stood up a little straighter. "I'll finish off here and get to GD. Call me as soon as you know anything, okay?"

He nodded, gave her a quick one-armed hug and jogged off to the ambulance, slipping in the back beside the gurney and sitting down out of the way. As soon as one of the security people shut the heavy doors behind them, they were off to GD, and Henry was pleased to help the paramedic to stabilise his friend.

 

**********************************************************************

 

Jo arrived back at GD about half an hour later and she walked straight to the infirmary, hoping to find Jack sitting up in a bed, moaning and groaning about all of this. But all she found was Henry sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room, staring at his hands, a mug of coffee cooling on the low table in front of him. He looked up at her arrival and shook his head at her frown. "They took him into surgery almost immediately." he explained quickly. "The doctor was mumbling something about broken ribs and concussion, but I couldn't get much more information from him."

She nodded and sat beside him with a sigh. "Your garage needs rebuilding." she explained to him after a few moments. "It's been made safe at the moment, so you can go through it and try to salvage whatever you can."

He nodded, realising he didn't really care about the items in his garage, they could all be replaced. Jack on the other hand… He shook himself out of that particular thought and studied his companion again. She looked drawn, some soot on her normally immaculate uniform, and he laid a hand on her arm for whatever comfort he could offer her. "Do you need me to complete reports?" he asked her after a couple of minutes of silence.

That made her smile, only briefly, but a smile none the less. "I have forms for all of it." she replied dryly. "There's the initial statement form, the fire form, explosion form, injury form, injury to law enforcement form, paramedic requirement form, fire control form, clear up form." she read off from memory to him. "All in triplicate, and all in hand writing." She looked at him critically. "N…"

"Neat and legible, I know." he finished off for her. "Signed in blood and witnessed by you, Alison and the Devil. But Captain America might be easier to pin down."

Her amusement grew a bit, he was used to this sort of thing. "I've left a pile of it in your lab." she explained to him. "You can get started straight away."

Henry though, shook his head. "I'm going to stay here for a while." he replied and looked pointedly at the double doors to the operating theatres the medical staff had taken his friend half an hour ago. "At least until we hear something."

Jo breathed out with a huff but nodded. "Okay." she agreed, and settled herself for a long wait.

 

******************************************************

 

Henry sighed and saved the work he and SARAH had worked on, before looking up and checking the time. A couple of hours had passed since he had left the infirmary (after Jo had bullied him into it, and he had to admit, because he'd been annoying her with his pacing) and started this, and he started in surprise and quickly checked his phone or email for any messages. No one had contacted him about Jack, which could mean anything. He looked around his lab for a moment while he tried to think about what to do next, and made the only decision he could. He closed everything up, left the lab and locked it, and locked it, and jogged to the infirmary on the next level up.

Jo was still there, as he had left her, pacing up and down the small waiting room herself, arms tightly folded across her chest in the vain hope of protecting herself from more hurt. She jumped, startled when he laid a hand on her shoulder, but relief crossed her face when she recognised the mechanic. "Henry." she said quietly, relieved.

"Any news?" Henry asked her, and frowned when she shook her head.

"Nothing yet." she replied, and checked her watch for the umpteenth time. "They said he had some concussion and a broken rib or two, but even I know those don't need surgery!" she snapped, her worry and frustration showing through. "So why is he still in there? After four hours?"

"They must have found something." Henry answered her with a shrug.

Jo turned on him, furious at his comment. "Really?" she asked him aridly. "I'd never have guessed that one." She frowned at him, as if seeing him properly for the first time. She had been spending the time Henry had gone thinking about the last few days or so, and had realised something had been up between the two men. And she wanted to know what. "What were you doing there?" she demanded of him. "Where have you been for the last few days? I thought Jack was your best friend, Henry. Hadn't you noticed he was getting more and more depressed? Or were you hiding out in your garage, hoping you could avoid him?"

Henry looked at her in silence for a few moments before he replied. She was right, he had been avoiding his friend, but not for the reasons she had said. He sat down in a nearby chair, rested his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands. "Jack has been asking me to do something for him." he explained, not really knowing how much he had told her. "He's deeply involved in it, and I've not been getting very far."

"So you've been avoiding him so you didn't have to tell him you can't do it." Jo commented flatly and shook her head and looked away when Henry nodded. "Very mature, Doctor Deacon." she commented, and walked away from him to sit down in another chair, some way from his.

Henry could only agree with her, and he sat quietly and tried to work through how everything had gone to hell so quickly.

 

After setting up the beacon for Nathan Henry had started work on the model with SARAH and, as he had been working through it, he'd realised it was all a bit more complicated than he thought. He had tried to work around it, but had only come up with more dead ends. And all the while Jack looked at him with a hopeful expression on his face or that big grin he'd give him when Jack spotted him. But everything Henry tried to do just came up with nothing, and he had no other ideas. SARAH was doing what she could, but some of the things she was coming up with were so far beyond anything he was able to produce he had ignored them.

But now, as he looked at his hands, Jo sitting stoically beside him, waiting for news about his best friend who had been hurt, again, trying to save scientists, he realised he was being stupid. SARAH was not an idiot, he was, she knew almost everything there was to know about what was going on in GD, and he should trust her to come up with things that he could come up with. With some help. He turned to Jo and watched her for a moment before he spoke. "I don't know what Jack's told you about what we're trying to do, if anything." he said quickly. "But I can't do it on my own. Do you think Zane would help?" he asked. "And yourself? We need to keep this low key, but I don't think Jack would mind if you two were in on it."

Jo looked up at him with a frown while she thought about it. She had known Jack was doing something off the clock but hadn't known what, and she was a little hurt that he hadn't trusted her with it. But he must have had a reason. "Why would you two try and keep it secret?" she asked him curiously. "Classified?"

He nodded. "Well, sort of. It's to do with Nathan Stark and what we both saw at the blackout." He sighed and looked around him, making sure they were alone. "Jack and I both saw us get Nathan back from wherever he's been sent." he explained quickly. "But I'm having problems making that happen."

Jo nodded thoughtfully. "I saw Zane and I hiding out in a lab in GD." she explained to him after a few moments. "We were talking about something, I was asking him whether he thought something had worked. He was concerned, nervous, but saying that 'we' had done all 'we' could do. I don't know who 'we' was." After a few more moments of thought she nodded. "Zane likes Jack, and any puzzles." She grinned for a moment at him, showing Henry her usual sense of humour. "And doing something clandestine will keep him out of too much trouble, for a few days anyway."

Henry grinned back and nodded. "Hopefully." he agreed.

 

**************************************************************

 

It was only about half an hour later when a doctor finally came and found them, and he stood in front of them, wearing a grim expression. "He's alive." he told them firmly. "Although his heart had other ideas."

Henry and Jo looked at each other before they both stood and stepped close to him. "What happened?" Henry asked him quickly. "I thought it was a couple of broken ribs."

The doctor nodded. "He suffered several broken ribs, a punctured lung and a damaged heart." he explained to them. "Which caused haemorrhaging in the pericardial sac around his heart. But." he added when he saw them both grimace. "We've repaired it all. We need to keep an eye on him for a few days, just to make sure the repairs heal."

"He'll be okay?" Jo asked him, concern all over her face. She only relaxed a little when he nodded and smiled a little.

"He'll be fine." he assured her, assured them both. "We're getting him settled into a private room at the moment, so you can see him in a few minutes. Okay?"

Both of them nodded, and agreed with the doctor when he asked them to stay where they were until Jack was ready to see them.

 

***************************************************************

 

The Sheriff was dopey from the anaesthetic, and he wasn't really tracking them, but at least he wasn't on a ventilator and he was conscious, Henry was pleased. He looked down at him with a smile and gently patted his nearest hand. "It's okay, Jack." he told him gently. "You'll be fine in a few days."

Jack frowned at him, but he was too dopey to force any words from his dry throat. Henry misinterpreted his frown and stepped back a little to show him Jo, who was standing next to him. "Everyone is okay, Jack." he said to him. "Apart from you. You need to sleep, but you'll be fine."

Jack tried to say something, anything, about what had happened while he had been unconscious, but no sound came out of his mouth, just a dry rasp. But he was exhausted and even trying to speak wiped him out and he couldn't keep his eyes open. The last thing he saw was Henry smiling benevolently, and a faint outline of a tall man standing behind him, with a pair of piercing eyes that looked remarkably like the scientist he was trying to bring back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst!!

Alison Blake looked at the report in front of her and sighed. Henry had been using energy, more than normal, and she could figure out what for without a problem. She was still troubled about what she had seen during the blackout – Nathan hadn't even paused to think before he had kissed Jack, she knew, and it hurt to think he could do that. That Jack could reciprocate in kind, and neither of them even think about what it was doing to her – Nathan was supposed to be her fiancé after all.

She played with the logic diamond around her neck and sighed again. It hadn't shown him since she had played it completely, almost as if he had programmed it to play in full just the once, and if ever she needed a sign it was now.

But nothing happened; nothing appeared in front of her to show her that she was worrying for nothing, that Nathan really did love her still, and not Jack. All that she could do was think about the recent past and worry some more.

Had they really solved the problems that caused their first marriage to decay? Had Nathan really changed enough to give her more attention than his work? Was she now more flexible enough, strong enough to let him spend time on his work without getting possessive and jealous? She realised that she had acted childishly and truculently before, she had known she hadn't had enough self worth to believe that she could spend a night or two without Nathan, that that didn't mean he didn't love her as much as she thought he should.

Did she have the strength to go through it again? Yes, Nathan had pursued her this time, rather than the other time, he had been very determined – as if she had been one of his experiments, he had been very single minded in his purpose. She had thought he had been concentrating on her, and what an ego trip that was: to be the sole beneficiary of all that sharp focus.

But what if he had been thinking about other people too, namely Jack? She knew their relationship was an odd one, at first neither men could stand each other, but they worked well together, and everyone saw just how much they seemed to enjoy snarking each other. But was that hiding something else? Were they actually sleeping with each other all the time, but trying to hide it with sarcastic comments and fighting over her? But if that were the case, then why was Nathan still so sure that he wanted to marry her again?

And was she so sure?

That thought was something she had tried to hide even from herself, even when she was saying yes to him, and planning a wedding. Yes, she loved him, she always would, but was she still in love with him? It was something she was concerned about – she had seemed to get back on track after Nathan's … death quicker than she ever had with her first husband. But then again, she had been left with a young child when he had died and felt very overwhelmed. Now though, she had had Nathan's child, so didn't that mean she should feel so much more loss than she did?

All this introspection was awful for her, she didn't have the time for it, with Eva gone and Jack in the infirmary after yet another accident, she should really be thinking about work, not about her own feelings. But the worries still niggled her as she forced herself to look back at her computer screens – was she prepared to see him again, if Jack and Henry managed to get Nathan back? And what would he do about her and Jenna?

And what would happen if…

Lots of what ifs ran through her mind, almost enough for her to decide that she should pull the plug before Jack and Henry got too involved in it. She could always say that the cost was too high; they were on a budget after all. She didn't have to tell them that pulling the project could really be because she was terrified that she had lost Nathan Stark before he could realise he didn't want her any more.

 

*******************************************************************

 

Jack woke slowly and really wished he hadn't. His head hurt like crap, the throb in his mind echoed the throb of his heart, a whole mass of pain behind his right eye. He tried to open his eyes, but there was a light that seared so brightly he squeezed them shut again, trying not to curse in pain. And the moment he tried to move his hand and arm to cover his eyes or try to move the stupid light away, the rest of his body decided to tell him NO.

He groaned and hoped if he would just lie there for a few moments he would fall asleep again. But no, not this time. This time someone rubbed the skin of his arm, not particularly gently, and said something too. "Jack?" he heard Henry call to him. "Jack? You with me?"

The Sheriff managed to grunt something, he had hoped it was: "Get that blasted light out of my face" but probably came out as a huff, knowing his luck.

So he was surprised when he felt and saw, behind his closed eyelids, that the blinding light disappeared and it was safe to open his eyes again.

"Sorry about that." Henry apologised quickly as he turned the lamp off and moved it away. "I don't know why they put these things here. Open your mouth, Jack." he added, and his friend could feel something cold against his dry lips. "I've got some ice chips for you."

Not as good as water but not anything to help his parched throat, and Jack was happy to comply. He was not unused to waking up after surgery, from both his previous job and here, so he knew what he was feeling and why, and he tried to think about what had happened as he savoured the cool water melting into his mouth. Explosion, fire, heat, Henry, Jo… "Jo!" he said quickly, and opened his eyes to stare up at his friend. "Okay? Both of you?"

Henry nodded and smiled at him. "We're both fine." he assured him. "You made sure of that." He offered him some more chips and spooned some more into his mouth when Jack nodded. Henry watched him for a moment in silence before he said anything, and knew exactly what he needed to say. "I'm sorry, Jack." he apologised sincerely. "For getting you hurt, for not being with you this few days. I'm sorry."

Jack blinked up at him, still a bit dopey. "What happened?" he asked him quietly, frowning in confusion. "Where are we?"

Henry frowned at him too, but realised what the doctor had said to him – that he shouldn't be surprised if the Sheriff was a bit confused, he had been blown up after all. "We're in GD's infirmary." he explained to him, and put the cup of chips down so he could take hold of one of his hands. "I was doing an experiment but it didn't work. The garage caught fire, and it blew some acetylene canisters I had. You were caught in the blast. Do you remember any of this?"

Jack tried to nod but it hurt so he stopped. "Yes." he replied. "Lots of heat and noise."

Henry nodded and gently squeezed his hand again. "A lot." he agreed. "The doctor said you'd be fine in a few days." he told him after a few moments of silence. "You're ribs were broken and the ends caused some problems in your lungs and heart. But." he added quickly when Jack's eyes widened. "It's been fixed. You'll be fine, don't worry."

Jack stared at him for a few moments before he decided to trust him. "Something happened when I was under." he explained grimly. "I remember."

Henry frowned, he didn't distrust Jack but he was unconscious so what…? "Jack?" he asked when his friend stayed silent. "What happened? Nothing here. Something with you?"

Jack blinked again. "Nathan." he said to him after a few moments. "I could see him." He closed his eyes and he could see him again, tall and striking, as he was before he disappeared in that stupid machine. He was wearing that annoying smirk, his dark blue suit that probably cost as much as Jack made in a year, as always immaculately presented. "He said to tell you to slow him down." Jack added after a few moments. "That the beacon wasn't strong enough, but enough so he knew where we were." He sighed and looked back at his friend again, trying and failing to hide his upset and hurt. "He said to tell Alison he'd be with her soon."

Henry, who was probably the only person apart from Jack to know how hard he'd fallen for the scientist, squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him. "That could be the anaesthetic talking." he tried to reassure him. "Your brain coming up with more ideas, mixed up with your own fears and worries. You shouldn't put too much stock into that, Jack."

But Jack was sure though, he knew what he had heard and whatever his friend was trying to tell him, he couldn't shake it. Nathan had been so solid, so real, like he was just out of his reach and it was so frustrating. And frightening too. He hadn't really thought past getting him back – what would happen if Nathan simply brushed him off, again, and walked over him back to Alison? He had watched once as he had lost any chance with the scientist, despite anything he had tried to do, which had been very painful, to have to watch it again? He didn't say anything but his friend must have seen something on his face, because he leant over him and slipped an arm under his shoulders to pull him up into a gentle hug.

"It'll be okay, Jack." he tried to reassure him as Jack moved one of his heavy arms around his friend's neck to hold on. "Everything will work out, you'll see."

 

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It was a week before the doctors released the Sheriff in to SARAH's care and he walked in the bunker to find Henry had spread work out on the dining room table, and the model of that time machine was completed in the middle of it. He smiled tiredly as he walked in and sat down on the sofa to study it for a few moments. "SARAH, are you all right?" he asked his house after a few moments. "Did you miss me?"

He could hear the amusement in her reply. "It was quiet, Sheriff." she answered him, amused, and he grinned at her. "Doctor Deacon was here."

"I can see." he said and nodded at the model. "How is it going? Helpful?"

"Yes." the AI answered him. "And your idea about slowing particles down seems to be the solution." she assured him. She then proceeded to explain to him what she was talking about, and he was surprised when he actually understood most of it.

He checked the date on the clock on the wall, and noted it – Jan 25th, right on time too.

 

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"We might have a problem with the helium." Henry warned the Sheriff when he simply walked into the bunker the next morning. He had driven Jack home, told him to get some rest at home and told him he was going to come be there the next morning to talk through what they had found out and how they could resolve this problem.

Jack frowned at him, but knew what he was talking about from his own research that morning, and SARAH. "Super fluid helium-4." he added to clarify, and smiled to himself when Henry did a double take. "Why though? Helium is one of the commonest elements on this planet, and helium 4 the commonest isotope of it."

Henry gaped at him, and then grinned as he walked over to him. "You've been reading up on it." he commented, and sat down next to him on the sofa. "Haven't you?"

Jack nodded, looking away as his cheeks coloured with embarrassment. "A bit." he admitted. "I can't have you and SARAH doing all the work while I'm sitting here. If I weren't checking this out, I'd be dealing with my other open cases. Which would annoy Jo."

Henry nodded sagely. "I can see why you've chosen to annoy SARAH and me instead." he replied, failing to hide his wide grin of amusement. "Has she let you know how it's going with Doctor Quigley's death?"

Jack shook his head with a frown. "No." he answered him. "She hung up on me when I asked her."

"Uh huh." Henry commented, and then got down to business. "The helium itself isn't the problem." he explained. "It's the power we'd need to keep it to minus 277 degrees that could be the problem." He walked over to the model with Jack following him and showed it to him with an expansive wave of his hand. "SARAH and I have realised we'd need to get the whole of the clock here." he pointed it out. "immersed in the helium which will slow it down, and therefore slow down any particles in the machine at the same time. We can't immerse the whole machine in the helium, we'd need a huge amount and the power to keep it that cold would be massive. We'd have to shut down the whole of GD for a week to use that amount of power. Eva Thorne might not be in charge any more, but the whole budget thing is still a high priority on Alison's list."

Jack nodded and thought back to his black out. He remembered seeing the clock in a container with some sort of liquid in it, placed to the side of the machine, with what seemed to be plasma energy linking both to Nathan on the floor in front of it. "I remember the clock being immersed. The container needs a lid."

Henry nodded. "A super fluid can move up and out of a container without a lid." he approved. "You've done your homework indeed. And GD have several of them that are the right size that we can use."

"Will it be a problem getting one?" Jack asked him curiously.

Henry shook his head. "No." he assured him. "The only problem is going to be the power. We'll have to speak to Alison about it, and soon. She might let us get Zane in on it too. He might be able to boost the power without too much problem."

Jack paused only a moment before he nodded. Zane was a genius, no doubt about it, and he had no qualms about asking him for help, he'd helped them out before on illicit projects, so he would probably jump at the chance to do something a little off the books.

 

*******************************************************************

 

The talk with Alison came earlier than they had planned though. A couple of days later Jack joined Henry in the lab at GD, the Sheriff was bored at home on his own, Zoë wasn't due back from LA for a few weeks and Jo was still hanging up on him if he mentioned the words 'work' or 'investigation' or anything like that. So he had left the bunker, climbed in his 4x4 and headed for GD, calling at the café first to get Henry and himself some lunch.

So he was there when the head of GD walked into the lab.

Alison had made a decision the previous evening when Kevin had pointed to a photo of Nathan and simply said "Gone". She had agreed and nodded, and really didn't want them to make her a liar to her child, and she had realised that she wanted to move on from the last decade of her life. She was a strong woman, she could live her life without relying on Nathan, and she had to if she wanted her son to grow up with as much stability as possible she couldn't keep bringing her ex back into her life, like a yo yo. It wasn't fair on Kevin, on her, or even on Nathan or Jack either, she thought.

So she had asked security to inform her of when Jack came into GD, as she knew he would because Henry was working in the lab today, and waited for about half an hour so she could pull together her strength. She then went and found them, took a breath outside the lab, and walked in.

Jack and Henry were talking together over one of the tables in the lab, both finishing up what looked like lunch the Sheriff had brought with him. He noticed she was there almost immediately and smiled at her. "Alison." he greeted her fondly. "Do you want some of this? Vince gave me too much for Henry and me for lunch."

She shook her head and walked closer. "No thank you, Jack." she answered him, and she knew Henry was watching her, studying her like he would one of his experiments.

"What is it, Alison?" the other scientist asked her after a few moments. He knew, from previous experience, that she was planning something that neither of them were going to like. "What's wrong?"

Jack's smile faded and he looked at Henry, then back at Alison, not saying anything. He waited, but not for long.

"I'm sorry, Jack, Henry." she told them after a few moments. "But I need you to stop working on getting Nathan back."

Jack stared at her incredulously and shook his head. "What…? Why? Alison…?"

Henry laid a hand on his nearest arm and squeezed gently. "Why, Alison?" he asked her firmly, trying to keep his temper. "We've almost figured it out, we know what we have to do. It's just a case of actually doing it."

She looked away from the hurt expression on Jack's face to the blue prints and other plans on the screens on the computers around the desks of the lab, and the electronics on the other surfaces. It looked like they had cracked it, lots of equations on the clear glass walls of the lab, more on white boards, bits and pieces of electronics scattered around the desks, and a large Plexiglas container on the desk near Jack. "I'm sorry." she said again, and meant it. "But I've let this go on for far too long as it is. Henry, you're needed on your other projects. Jack." she looked over at him. "You're needed as the Sheriff. Do you know when you can go back to work?"

Jack though, knew her better than she thought and he shook his head. "That's not it though, is it?" he asked her firmly. "There's something else, isn't there? What is it, really?"

She sighed and looked away from him to the floor again. "He's gone, Jack." she told him after a few moments. "Its time to move on."

Jack shook his head. "He's not dead, Alison." he retorted sharply. "We know that, we can prove that. Why are you willing to let him go when we're so close to getting him back?"

"It's not just the money, is it?" Henry asked her, joining in thoughtfully. He studied her, head slightly to one side, and almost read her face and the expressions in her eyes as she couldn't look at either of them. "You don't want him back." he stated. "Why?"

She sighed and walked over to one of the desks, and picked up a piece of metal she didn't recognise, studying it so she didn't have to look at the two men in the room. "I don't think its fair." she answered after a pause. "On Kevin, Jenna, me or you, both of you."

Jack frowned and glanced over at his friend, still holding onto his arm. "I would have thought Kevin would be pleased to have his Dad back. And his daughter needs her father," he commented, trying to do something to persuade her. "Unless you've told him already that he won't see him again. Have you?"

"No." Alison answered. "He's realised he's not seen him in a while. He knows something has happened to him, he knows he's gone, but he doesn't know where. And Jenna hasn't met him, at all,"

"We do." Henry told her, some steel in his tone. "We know where he is, more importantly we know when he is. The beacon we've got is working, to a point. We just need to grab him and slow him down enough."

Alison shook her head and looked up at them both. "It's costing too much." she told them firmly. "I can't justify it. Jack, I need you to be back to work as the Sheriff as soon as possible. Henry, I need you to work on the other projects you have, you're falling behind."

Jack's eyes hardened and he shook his head. "You are not my boss, Doctor Blake." he said to her, his voice firm. "You cannot tell me what to do."

She glared back at him. "Doctor Deacon is in my employ, however." she retorted. "And I.."

"You're a liar." Jack cut her off. "Tell me the truth." he demanded. "What is it?"

She was going to shout at him and storm away, but thought about it quickly and realised he was right – she was a liar, and he deserved better, much better from her. "I don't want him back." she admitted after a few moments. "I want Kevin, myself and Jenna to move on. I've spent the last ten years waiting for him, I don't want to do that any more."

"This isn't about you, Alison." Henry replied before Jack could. "Nathan Stark is one of the best minds in the country, in the world. What you want or don't want really is neither here nor there."

His words were so surprising for her that Alison stopped suddenly and stared at him. "Is that why you're doing this?" she asked incredulously. "For his brain?"

Henry nodded. "What else do you think this is about, Alison?" he asked her, frowning. "You alone?" He didn't tell her he was in this for Jack, she didn't need to know about that. The Sheriff had been nothing but a loyal friend to him, even through everything Henry himself had done to him, lying to him, stealing his memories, taking four years of his life and giving him back … what? He had blamed him for Kim's death, spent almost a year hating him, and all the time Jack had supported him, been by his side when he needed it, and pushed and pulled him through his depression whether the scientist/coroner/mechanic/mayor wanted his help or not. Now he was trying to do the same for Jack, and if Alison didn't like it … tough. He squeezed Jack's arm with his hand to try and get him to realise that and shook his head at her in disbelief too. "I really didn't think you had such a God complex, Alison." he snapped, suddenly angry at her attitude. "So what if you don't want him back? What gives you the right to stop us getting him back, just because you don't want him? What if someone else does? Why give up on his life? You might as well have put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger yourself."

She frowned and was suddenly thrown back to her flash-forward. "Like Jack?" she demanded herself. "You mean, someone like Jack." She turned to face the silent Sheriff who was staring at her as if she had grown two heads suddenly. "You want him, don't you?" she asked, stalking towards him. "You kissed him."

Jack sighed. "We've been over this, Alison." he replied, fists clenched in front of him. He really didn't want to have to go through it again. "He was going to marry you. I had no chance with either of you."

"That's right." she agreed, making sure her words would hurt, because she was angry and hurt too. "You would never have a chance with him, or me. We're both way out of your league. Even your ex-wife realised that."

She was right, Jack remembered the situation, Abby was in Eureka and had described Nathan and Alison as the 'perfect couple'. It had hurt then, even more so now, coming from Alison's mouth. "I know." he said to her through clenched teeth and pushed off the stool he was sitting on. He shook his arm out of Henry's grip and walked away from them both, staring out of the glass walls of the lab to the view of… somewhere else beyond. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to breathe to calm down, telling himself that she had lost someone she loved so he shouldn't retaliate the way he really, really wanted to and shout back at her. Nathan had come to him when Alison had been too much for him to handle, when she was demanding too much from the scientist, when she was accusing him of mistreating Kevin when all he was trying to do was help the child he loved as his own. Jack had known then that he wasn't going to get more than that from Nathan, that Alison was his second love after science and he had reconciled himself to that. Nathan had at least apologised profusely, but Alison was using it to hurt him, and it was working, unlike his attempts at calming himself. So he turned back and glared at her. "We're working our asses off for you." he snapped at her. "So you can have your lover back, the father of your child back. And you're treating us like this? What the hell do you want from me, Alison?" he demanded. "What else can you possibly want?"

"Promise me." she said in reply, without thinking. "Promise me you won't go after Nathan, and you can have all the help you want, all the resources you need." She really didn't know why she had said that, obviously her fear of losing the scientist was overriding anything else she had thought out. "Promise me you won't pursue him, that you'll get him back and walk away."

Jack frowned at her, and Henry shook his head. "No." the other scientist in the room retorted. "You can't make him do that. That is blackmail, Alison. What is wrong with you? I thought Jack was your friend? How can you say that to him?"

Jack though, knew he had no choice. And he knew that however difficult it would be for him to watch, again, as Nathan found someone better than him, the scientist would have a second chance that he wouldn't otherwise have had. "Henry, it's all right." he said to his friend, his tone grim and his volume quiet. He sighed and nodded at the woman he had loved and trusted up until this moment. "If that's what it takes, I'll walk away. You have my word." He was surprised at how easy he had just given in, but realised to himself that it had been a pipe dream on his part to think he could ever have anything else from Nathan than he had already had. He and the scientist had talked about it, Jack had wanted to know where he stood and what, if any, chance he had with him. Nathan had been honest at least, had told him that he would probably always love Alison, and he was so sorry that he was treating the Sheriff as he was. He remembered the conversation – 

*** flashback ***

"Jack, I'm so sorry." Nathan had told him as he got out of bed and walked away to where he had left his clothes.

"I know this unfair on you, but I can't stop myself. I'm sorry."

Jack had sighed and curled up under the sheets, looking away from him as he dressed. "Maybe you should help yourself." he had said, and stayed where he was as his some time lover dressed and prepared to leave, as usual. Nathan hadn't questioned him, he'd stood and watched him for long moments before sighing and walking away, out of the bunker and to his car parked out front. He hadn't been back, and Jack hadn't let him go back either.

*** present ***

Alison smiled at him, an expression of sheer satisfaction that made her pretty face look ugly. "Good." she replied and turned to face Henry, who was staring at her in disbelief. "Anything you need, Doctor Deacon." she told him, and turned on her heel to walk back to the lab entrance. "And Sheriff." she added, sounding triumphant. "Doctor Quigley was a clever scientist missed by the DOD. If you're so eager for this to work, I suggest you find out who killed him and why, and not waste any more of Henry's time." With that she walked out of the lab, heels clicking as she went, leaving both men there staring after her, speechless.

Henry was the first to recover, he quickly got off his own stool and walked over to his friend who hadn't moved from the side of the lab. "I'm so sorry, Jack." he said to him quietly and hugged him gently. "I don't know why she suddenly did that."

Jack leant against him and tried not to cry. "Fear probably." he replied and buried his face in his shoulder for a moment of comfort. Then he took a breath and pulled away. "I'd better let you get back to work." he told him after a few moments and stepped away from his friend. "I'll just…" He indicated out of the building with a hand, and followed it up with walking out of the lab. "Later, Henry." he said at the door, and was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (this is a filler, and as such, not very good, although I have written and re written this one at least three times. The next one is April 29th, where something happens!)

Nathan Stark was constantly amazed about the complexities of the universe, even more so now he knew there were several of them, and he had visited some of them. He could now answer questions about other sentient life in Earth's universe, he'd visited several places in his speeded up form, where life flourished in huge variations. He'd been to the Big Bang and before, flown through the Orion Nebula, cruised a few civilisations and Andromeda galaxy and even spotted a very odd flying blue phone box while scouting the rings of Neptune.

Something was wrong about it all though, he realised he really wanted to have someone with him so he could point things out to, to share his awe with, to frown in surprise with, and to make sure he wasn't dreaming the phone box. And it was an oddity for him to realise that it wasn't Alison he wanted to do these things with, she wouldn't understand his wonder. Instead he realised as he stared at a comet, that Jack was the person he wanted to show these things to – he could imagine the look of surprise on his face when the Scientist pointed out a black hole to him, that wide grin when he spotted a pulsar flickering away in the distance, being close to his side when they explored a civilisation based on a moon in a galaxy far, very far away.

But something else seemed to be pulling Nathan back to the Milky Way, and when he looked back in that direction he could 'see' a beam of … something that sparked his curiosity. It wasn't the super massive black hole gorging creating a quasar that pulled him, it was a weaker, bluer stream of light particles that caught his eye. Of course, he realised when he found it, the pot at the end of that particular rainbow was the Sheriff himself and Henry in Eureka. He was surprised at the activity the pair of them were doing for him, he was also a little, a LOT hurt at Alison's seeming indifference and lack of curiosity about what was happening in their little pinprick of the universe. He was amused at Fargo, fond of Zoe, missed Vincent's cooking skills, and found himself watching Jack. The Sheriff exasperated him, and amused him in equal measures, and now, when he was disembodied, he ached to touch him, especially when Jack was hurt. He had eavesdropped on some of the conversations Henry and Jack had had about their project, and while Jack was in surgery; even Nathan didn't want to see that; he slipped over to SARAH and rummaged through her hard drive to find out what they were working on, and how far they were along. He was impressed, even he probably wouldn't have gotten so far, and he realised it was due in no small way to Jack's odd leaps of intuition.

They were missing a couple of things, he realised, as he intermingled with the atoms of memory and computer code in SARAH's mainframe and absorbed the information – they needed the atomic clock and he was moving far too fast to be caught in any of the theories they were working on.

How to let them know? He had tried to speak to people here, there and everywhere he had been, but he'd not managed it, however much he had tried. Jack hadn't seemed to hear him either, but he'd only tried to communicate with him while he was awake. Even though he was horrified that his favourite Sheriff had been hurt, again, through no fault of his own, Nathan was all for taking advantage of an opportunity. He couldn't 'slip' into anyone's mind when they were awake, there was too much interference for his atoms to move through coherently (he had tried it already and almost got lost in General O'Neill's complicated thoughts). He just hoped he could infiltrate when Jack was unconscious.

It was a very odd sensation, among a whole host of other odd sensations he had to admit, aiming the cloud of atoms that he was made up of (and wasn't that ironic – he was the virtual embodiment of quantum mechanics in this form) through and between the thoughts, emotions and other things that made Jack the man he was. If he had to describe it Nathan would have said it was like gathering up a lot of skirts to step across a whole marshland full of puddles- even when Jack was out of it on painkillers, sedatives and anaesthetics the Sheriff was a complicated man.

But he made it to his goal – the bright spark that was Jack, and made sure he looked the part: shirt, tie, stern expression. "Slow me down, Jack." he projected as firmly as he could. "You're on the right track, you and Henry just need to slow me down." He tried to make his tone grim and angry for his next request, she had given him up far too quickly for Nathan's taste. "And tell Alison I'll be there soon." he requested. "I really need to talk to her."

He decided that was enough, and despite his own curiosity he was well behaved, most of the time, so he didn't rummage through the rest of Jack's thoughts and feelings, even though he knew he could have, easily. What he did do was pull back and observe, to see if it had worked, like he would with any experiment. So he was there when Jack woke, listened to him explain to Henry, and hissed in annoyance when he realised Jack thought his last statement had been because he wanted to be with Alison again, not because he was annoyed with her.

There wasn't much more he could do there though, Jack would be okay. He trusted the pair of them with their self-imposed project to get him back, and decided he was going to take one last look around, before they succeeded and made him corporeal again. So, with a gentle suggestion of 'Look after him, Henry' he slipped away from Eureka and dropped in on Cousin Tony before he spent some time watching the suns set on a beautiful gas giant he'd called Kobol, in a universe he'd found.

 

****************************************************************

 

Jack walked away from GD and tried not to go through what had just happened. He was in some ways stunned at what Alison had said to him, but in other ways not too surprised – she had been about to re marry Nathan again. But it was difficult not to go somewhere and hide out until April 30th, but he was not that sort of person. So instead he left GD at speed, and drove out to the storage warehouse tucked away out of town. It had many units, and one of them held Nathan's possessions, including his BMW, that Jack himself had driven over here, loaded with the scientist's possessions. He had a key, he had the only entrance key actually, once he, Alison and Fargo had emptied Nathan's house of his possessions Alison had not wanted to have any reminder of what she had lost, and Jack hadn't thought Nathan would want his assistant rummaging around in his possessions. Now though, the Sheriff was grateful that he had the only key, so he unlocked the unit and walked in, knowing that he was the only person to have access to the items in here. He looked around and found himself walking further in, laying a hand on the bonnet of the car, as if he could reach Nathan through it, or through the rest of the possessions there.

Nathan hadn't had a lot of things, he hadn't been that sentimental to have ornaments or other keepsakes, but the ones he had were well loved, and handled. Jack himself had seen him handle a couple of the wooden carvings he had when he was thinking, musing or just simply pottering in his house, and the Sheriff headed over to one of the cabinets he and Fargo had muscled in here with a couple in mind. He really didn't think Nathan would mind if Jack took a couple of pieces home with him, he was going to give them back straight away if and when they got him back. But he needed something to remind him of what he was doing this for, what he was putting himself through all of this for, and he picked up a small wooden idol cousin Tony had brought back from Raratonga for Nathan as a joke – it was a fertility god with a huge … member, and Nathan had seemed to be fond of it. He also picked up another wooden carving, this one was a dragon that Nathan's father had bought for his son from China, and Jack remembered the look on his face when the scientist had told him about it – he hadn't had a very good relationship with his father, but small gifts like this one had shown Nathan that his father did know he existed after all.

With those two items in his hand Jack looked around the area and smiled to himself. "Not long now, Nathan." he murmured to the objects there. "I'm just going to borrow these for a while, you can come back and get them from me."

With that he turned round and left, shutting the roller shutter and looking it behind him. As he drove away he felt better, both objects on the passenger seat, and he drove carefully back to the bunker, almost as if the man himself was in the jeep with him.

 

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Jack stayed away from Global as much as he could, sending Jo, and then Andy after managing to persuade him that working in Eureka wasn't that bad, there if they needed to respond to anything, while he threw himself into the outstanding murder enquiry. Alison had been right about that one, Doctor Quigley would be missed because of his IQ, but that was about it. The man seemed to have nothing but his work, and no-one but his colleagues so the Sheriff started there. And it gave him something else to do rather than brood. Everyone seemed to notice he was short of temper and severely lacking in the usual joviality he had bestowed on the town previously, and people seemed to be divided along the lines of those that avoided him, and those that tried to make him feel better. Alison and Seth headed up the 'avoid' camp while Henry, Fargo, Jo and Zane, as well as Vincent, were heading up the 'cheer up' camp. Tess Fontana surprised everyone and joined their ranks as did a young, up and coming nuclear physicist called Sean Franklin. Which was a shame really, because Jack and Jo had to arrest him a few days later for murder.

Franklin was one of Quigley's assistants but stubborn and headstrong – great qualities in law enforcement, not so great in nuclear fission, combining it with anti matter to create bombs. Quigley had said no, on several occasions, his project was about alternative energy sources, and Franklin had disagreed. Violently.

Jack used Jo's research and added his own, found enough evidence to satisfy a judge, and the nearest DA (in Portland), and asked Jo to accompany him to go and find the guy. Her grin was feral, the arsenal she gathered and took with her was lethal, and when their hunt lead them to GD and an experiment with both Alison and General Mansfield in attendance, their timing could not have been better.

Alison ignored him first of all, as she had been since she'd made her demands, and Jack smiled grimly when he noticed how much effort it took for her to do that. General Mansfield however, was not aware of their differences.

"Sheriff." he greeted him in his usual annoyed style (Jack did make him look like a prick a few months ago when he beat getting fired by him after all). "This is a level five test. What are you doing here?"

"My job, General." Jack replied and scanned the room for their quarry. He found him standing over one of the computers and he nodded at Jo. She nodded back and moved slowly to outflank the guy, while everyone took note of the Sheriff and the General as they glowered at each other. Jack didn't want to make his move before Jo was in place, he was still recovering after all and didn't think he could take Franklin if he had to. So he kept an eye on Jo and let the General speak.

"Which is?" Mansfield demanded, and waited impatiently for a reply. When none was forthcoming he huffed and tried again. "What are you doing here, Carter?" he asked again.

"Like I said, my job." Jack answered, and handed him a signed sheet of paper. It was an arrest warrant and the General read it quickly.

He frowned and looked up again, noting that Deputy Lupo was now standing behind the scientist in question. "Are you sure?" he asked Jack grimly.

Jack nodded. "I may not be a scientist, or have more than an average IQ, but I know how to conduct a murder investigation. To that end…" he added, and turned away to face Franklin, stepping closer as Jo did the same. "Doctor Sean Franklin, you are under arrest." he intoned, and quickly read the guy his Miranda rights by heart. Jo quickly cuffed him as he did but kept an eye on his colleagues too – they were unsure which one of them that helped him, certain, one at least, had. But whether they would act here was another question.

Franklin stared at the Sheriff as he was cuffed in anger. "He was small minded!" he shouted and tried to struggle away. "He was a fool. We could do so much more than this."

Jack sighed and shook his head. "Whatever." he commented, and turned away from him and Jo, putting his back to the other scientists in the room. "They were planning to add anti matter to a nuclear warhead, General." he explained to the guy still frowning at him. "Even I know that would be catastrophic for all of us."

Which seemed to spur Franklin's co-conspirator. One of the scientists behind Jack took a step or two in his direction, reaching out for a heavy tool she had been using to make adjustments to the machinery before they had entered. "It would work too." she snapped and leapt forward, just as Jo yelled a warning.

Jack, still slow from his surgeries, didn't move in time, but he needn't have worried. Mansfield spotted the scientist and in a move from his combat days, grabbed Jack with one arm and pulled him out of harm's way, while unholstering his side arm with the other. Special forces had taught the General to always carry a live, fully loaded gun or two on his person, especially when coming here, and he flicked off the safety with his thumb and aimed it right between the scientist's eyes. "I'd say 'make my day' but someone has already used that line." he snapped at the woman.

Who froze, giving Jo time to grab her after handing off her other prisoner to a security guard.

Mansfield only let go of Jack's arm when he was sure both scientists were in custody, and he holstered his weapon and turned to Alison. "Make sure this and all work these people are doing is completely locked down." he ordered, and then turned back to Jack. "Good work, Sheriff." he said with a smile. "Tell me how you did it."

Jack found talking to Mansfield made him able to deal with being in the same room as Alison. He could hear her voice but was able to tune it out, and made sure he looked at the General, not her. He had gone home after she had forced him to concede and gone to the storage unit, and had planned to drown his problems in a sea of beer. In the end he ended up spending some time speaking to Zo in the phone (she was in LA with her mother) and then entertaining Henry who had come over to commiserate with him.

But Jack didn't want to commiserate with anyone, he wanted Nathan back, he wanted all their hard work to be worth something, anything. After that? He hadn't thought about it, not that he would admit it to anyone. He had friends that he hadn't seen for a while, family too, Lexy and Duncan had settled a short flight away and he did love being Uncle Jack to his nephew and niece.

Could he really leave though? He'd never felt at home anywhere more than here, in Eureka he did what he had set out do when he had joined law enforcement – save lives, make a difference. Even though the scientists put themselves in danger more often than not, but still. Could he leave all that because of one scared, selfish woman's demands? No was the answer to that one.

So he did what he did best – boxed it up and pushed away the negative emotions and got back to work.

 

**********************************************************

 

If Henry was surprised to see him in his lab after word had gone around GD that two scientists had been arrested for murder he didn't show it. Instead he smiled at him in greeting, pushed a chair towards him and showed him what he was working on.

Henry was enthused with the work he had carried out since Alison had made her demands. He knew how much Jack's concession had cost him, and had doubled his efforts to finish in time. "We're almost there." he told the Sheriff with an infectious grin. "Zane has agreed to check everything out for us, and we'll need to test it. But the way things look now, we're right on target."

Jack looked at the equations on the screen in front of him and then up and around at the other work scribbled on white boards or glass walls of the lab in awe. "I don't know how I can thank you for this, Henry." he said gratefully. "Really. You must have put so much work on hold."

Henry shook his head. "Nathan is my friend too." he answered him truthfully. "He and I can finish up anything I've put off. And…" he added with a smile. "I know you and he would do the same for me."

Jack nodded. "That I'm certain of," he agreed.

 

****************************************************

 

Zane, as soon as Henry had asked him, launched himself into the testing with a vengeance. He respected Nathan Stark, liked Henry and Jack, and thrived on challenges. But it was still a painstaking task, and whatever Henry said they all had other work to do. Zane was astounded at the work SARAH and Henry had put in, even more so when the scientist explained Jack's leaps of intuition. It was painfully slow, they didn't want to get anything wrong, they couldn't – there was far too much at stake. So Zane went through everything, every calculation, every nut, bolt and screw on the time machine and atomic clock, making sure everything was perfect.

And it took the whole of March and the first week of April to make sure everything was perfect.

All of Eureka, not just those working on the Project Nathan, were poised for April 29th. Only a few people had spoken about their flash forwards, the majority had kept quiet, or only amongst their closest confidantes. All of a sudden though, as the day got closer, people were opening up to each other, sharing their experiences, their fears and hopes for what it all meant. Jack walked into Café Diem quite often to find Vince holding court, most people seemed to be drawn to the affable chef. A lot of people also went to see him because his partner Paul Suenos was spending more and more time in the Café with him – everyone not just the Sheriff was having problems sleeping at the time.

Jack himself was a whole mass of mood swings – one moment happy and excited, the next worried and downright petrified. Only a few people knew what was going on with him, why he felt the way he did, and those that did were also on edge – in most cases for him, backing him up if anyone so much as dared to complain. The man himself was trying to control it, staying silent when he really wanted to strangle Tess or deck Fargo, seeing as many people as possible when he was hyper.

Alison was not helping – she was also getting more and more ansty, more and more sharp with those around her, demanding everyone get their projects completed before the due date. She was still avoiding spending a lot of time with Jack, using Jo instead if she needed official back up, and Deputy Lupo, bless her heart, was willing to do it, for her friend and, incidentally, her boss. "Don't worry about it, Carter." she assured him on her way out of the office one morning when Alison had called for help. "I get it, really."

Jack knew she did, and could have hugged her for her understanding and unwavering friendship. So he did. "Thank you." he replied, his arms tight around her, his face buried in her shoulder. Jo hesitated for a moment before she hugged him back, she wasn't used to such a show of affection from him.

"No problem, Jack." she answered him as she hugged him back. "I know you'd do it for me."

Jack smiled at squeezed her before letting her go. "Well," he commented, amused. "Depending on who it is, of course."

She nodded with a matching grin. "Of course."

There were a few people who hadn't had flash forwards and they were getting more and more anxious the close it came to the date. Fargo was one of them, and he had started an online blog on Eureka's intranet for others like him. It had been quiet at first, but as soon as the Feds in LA figured out what that had meant it had exploded with chatter. Fargo was their spokesperson, and, since Jack was fond of the young man, and he made sure the group, and Fargo, kept as safe as he could. So far they hadn't lost any of the group, there hadn't been a death in town since Quigley, Jack was trying his best to make sure that record stuck. And it also gave him yet another excuse to avoid Alison and think about something other than her impossible demands.

Until a week before N-day.

 

**************************************************************

 

Fargo and his small group held a weekly meet at Café Diem, and Jack made the time to attend, a) to give the people some reassurance, and b) to make sure they were all still breathing.

He walked in on Friday night to find them, all seven on them were seated around the fire in the couches and smiled in relief. Jenna had scared him, well, all of them, when she had been twenty minutes late a couple of weeks ago, so much Jack had started to raise a search party for her. Since then she had always been the first to get there, she didn't want the Sheriff, amiable or not, bursting in on her and her other half.

Jack walked in, fixed himself a mugful of vinspresso and took his usual spot they saved for him at the end of one couch and smiled at them all in greeting. "Everyone okay?" he asked them all and studied them carefully. None had any obvious bruises, cuts or other wounds and he knew Fargo would be the first to comment if he so much as broke a nail, but Jack didn't know the others so well. So he waited for all of them to reply before he relaxed a little.

Pete, a pessimist, sat next to him. "Sheriff." he greeted him. "I'm fine. So far at least."

Jack tried not to sigh – he'd heard it all before from him. "Glad to hear it, Pete." he replied, knowing he wouldn't let up without a reply. "Only a few more days to go."

"Uh huh." Pete commented and looked at the others surrounding them. "How do you think we're gonna get it?" he asked, his usual question, so much so the Sheriff had gotten used to coming up with the most gruesome way possible.

Jack shrugged and glanced over at him. "I saw Henry and Dougal check out a new mower for GD's grounds," he told him with a smile. "It's a ride on, and we all know Dougal's got poor vision. You might get mangled by it."

Pete nodded thoughtfully. "Better than the Pirates last week," he agreed, and then grinned at him, and gently nudged him with his elbow. "Although I could see the drama in being taken out by Captain Jack Sparrow."

Jack smiled, he liked Pete, he reminded him in some ways of Taggart and he made sure he knew where the physicist was most of the time, just in case. "Thought you might like that one," he answered with a smile.

Pete was going to say something else but Lisa, the downer of the group, sighed loudly. "I wish you two would stop that," she snapped at them from the couch opposite them. "Every week you keep coming up with ways to die. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't like it."

Fargo looked up from his chat and glared at her. "All we want is you to get mangled by Dougal's mower," he snapped over to her. "Leave them alone." Then he looked over at the two in question and smiled. "Are you two going to eat?" he asked. "We're coming up with a menu here."

Jack thought for a moment and nodded, he hadn't eaten all day and he knew Vince could make him something sublime. "I could eat," he agreed. "What have you come up with?"

It took another ten minutes to decide and Jack quickly snatched the list from Fargo before anyone could change their minds. He stood and walked over to the counter, eyes on the list in front of him, so he didn't notice Alison there until he had literally walked into her. "Sorry." he said automatically before he looked up. His smile faded as he took her in and stepped back quickly. "Doctor Blake." he said instead of the amused quip he was going to say. "Excuse me."

She nodded, and, in an effort not to look at him, she looked over at where he had come from. "You're eating with an eclectic group of people tonight." she commented, and took in the seven people. Fargo and Pete Morton were watching them, the other five, three scientists, one security guard and the bookstore owner, were all chatting among themselves.

Jack frowned and glanced back at his friends, because that was what they were now. "They're my friends," he told her, trying not to snap. "Are you going to tell me I can't spend time with them either?" He didn't snap, but ended up being sharp anyway, he couldn't help it. He had trusted her, and she had stabbed him in the back in the worst possible way.

She shook her head and looked away for a moment before she replied. "I'm sorry, Jack." she apologised sincerely. "But I had to do something'" she tried to explain. "I had to think about myself, and my children." Because of them she felt she had a prior claim.

Jack smiled thinly, no humour or warmth in it, at all. "It might be nice to have that option." he retorted, and then side stepped her. "I have friends to think about." he commented, and ignored her for Vince. He handed the attentive chef the list and smiled in greeting at him, properly this time.

Vincent took the list and smiled back, but it was tinged with a frown. "Sheriff." he answered and checked the list in his hand. "Everybody accounted for?" he asked, nodding at the group behind.

Jack nodded and glanced back at the people in question. "Yes." he replied. "Only a few more days to go."

Vince nodded and looked meaningfully at Alison. "Is, er, is Doctor Blake joining you?" he asked tentatively. He had noticed the sudden hostile behaviour the pair had been engaged in, even before today, so he wasn't surprised when Jack shook his head. "No." he said firmly. "Just us eight."

Vin nodded and turned to pull a beer for his friend, as well as handing over the list to his chef in the kitchen. He was concerned, he had noticed Jack's odd mood swings, and the dark circles around his eyes, Paul had suggested he was exhibiting all the signs of depression. So he didn't push, even though he wanted to, and handed Jack his drink. "We'll bring it all over in a few." he informed him, and smiled back when Jack thanked him. The Sheriff took his beer and walked over to his friends, ignoring Alison, who sighed loudly as he walked past her and went to find Tess.

 

Henry, knowing of the group and Jack's meetings with them, walked in a little later and looked around to see if he could spot his best friend. As he had hoped Jack seemed to be in animated conversation with Pete and Fargo, a smile on his face as he commented, and then laughed as Fargo replied. The Sheriff looked good, happy, something he hadn't done for a while, and Henry hoped he was going to see him like this more often.

Henry walked over to him and perched on the arm of the sofa next to Jack. He smiled in welcome at all the people around; he knew them all, and gently nudged Jack's arm with his elbow. "Zane's done." he told him quietly when Jack looked up at him. "Just like Santa, he's checked everything twice."

Jack grinned at him, very pleased. "What about the power issue?" he asked him, trying not to get too excited.

Henry's smile increased. "He's double, tripled checked all of the corrections, all of the components. It'll work Jack, we're sure of it."

His friend nodded, a smile gracing his features. "Can it be tested?" he asked, frowning suddenly. "I suppose it'll use too much power to test it," he added after a few moments.

Henry nodded, his smile also fading a little. "You're right, it'll use too much power to test it. This is a one-time thing, Jack," he informed him. "But there's no doubt it'll work. We've just got to get Nathan's attention to get him in the right area." He smiled at him again and laid a hand on his arm. "Have you had any more contact with him?" he asked him.

Jack shook his head. "Not as such, no," he answered. "A couple of times I've seen something, someone I thought was him out of the corner of my eye, but no talking."

"Hmm," Henry mused thoughtfully. "I suppose I can always knock you out again," he told him, amused. "But I'd rather not blow up my garage, it's almost completely rebuilt."

Jack was a bit taken aback with that, he stared at him for a few moments before he spotted the tell tale crinkles of mirth around Henry's eyes. He elbowed him and grinned himself. "Or you could get me drunk enough I pass out." he retorted as Henry laughed at him. "That might be more fun."

Henry nodded his agreement. "Much more fun." he agreed.

Jack smiled at him and sipped his beer for a few moments before he spoke again. "We need to get his attention." he commented thoughtfully, and Henry didn't need to be told about what he was talking about. "Maybe we can use the beacon?"

Henry nodded and thought about it. "We can add some more power." he mused.

"Or what about just fluctuating it, so it, I don't know, blinks? Or Morse code? Does Nathan know Morse code?"

Henry grinned. "I don't know." he answered him. "But I'm sure he'll notice if the beacon changes. Don't worry, he'll be back here at the right time."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked him, suddenly unsure, again.

Henry nodded and reached over to him to squeeze his shoulder with his hand. "I'm sure." he assured him. "He'll be here."

 

*************************************************************************

 

It was like waiting for Christmas when you didn't want to spend it with family, the worst court case the Sheriff had ever had to testify at, or a dentist appointment that you knew would hurt like hell. Jack had taken to crossing the days off on his calendar, even though he had thought that that was a depressive habit to get into before this. Minutes seemed like hours, hours days, and the days themselves were indeterminable, never ending torture.

He wasn't the only one, Jo was becoming more and more tight lipped, every word she did actually say to him was barbed and snapped.

Fargo had taken to working from home as much as he could, and if he had to go to the office he'd call Jack for transport – something the Sheriff was actually pleased to do.

Until the third time he did it and came face to face with Alison.

Jack virtually walked into her, again, across the atrium in the centre of GD. He was talking to, well, listening to Fargo as he panicked about virtually everything. Alison was speaking to someone she was with and neither of them were looking where they were going. Jack noticed and stopped to look directly at her. It had been weeks since that day in the lab, since he had lost his friend, and he was too tired to ignore her any more. Although it was easy to side step her and walk away, something he was going to do, but she grabbed his arm and kept him there before he could make his escape. He was far too polite to shake her off and walk away, and he ended up waiting for her to finish her conversation before she turned to him.

"What do you want, Doctor Blake" he asked her bleakly, waiting for her companion to leave before he spoke to her.

Alison looked at the hard, bleak expression on his face, quite opposite to how he had looked at her before all this, and let go of his arm. "An update on your project, Sheriff." she told him firmly, telling herself not to crack at his continued belligerence. "The date is getting closer and neither yourself, or Doctor Deacon have spoken to me about it."

He sighed. "Everything has been triple checked," he told her quickly – he wanted to get away from her as soon as possible. "We've adjusted the beacon, we're just waiting now."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Will it work?" she asked him, which wasn't the question she wanted to ask, but was mindful of Fargo still hovering nervously next to Jack.

Jack nodded. "Henry and Zane are confident." he answered her, and said nothing else until her next question.

Fargo watched them both interact, frowning. Normally they would flirt, banter, chat about anything, but for a few weeks now, Jack seemed really low and avoided Doctor Blake all together. Something was going on, and Fargo was not a stupid man, so he could figure out it might be something to do with Doctor Stark.

The loss of the scientist had created a huge hole in the entirety of Eureka, especially for Fargo himself. After spending a couple of years and change being his 'assistant' – gopher, whipping boy and everything in between – Fargo had found himself in limbo when he had gone. It had been difficult for him to find his place in GD again, almost as if he had had to restart, and he didn't like it. He was burning to ask, to know what was going on, but the bleak expressions on both Jack's and Alison's faces put him off. Instead he stood back while they – talked was the wrong word – pulled words out of each other because both were too polite to tell each other to piss off was a better description – and put his not inconsiderable brain power to work.

As soon as Alison had walked away, only after she'd given Jack a terse 'keep me informed' he looked over at the Sheriff. To see him standing still, glaring at the floor as if it had risen up and kicked his dog. "Jack?" he called, and laid a hand on his arm to get his attention. "Are you all right?"

Jack looked up and as he tried to school his face but he wasn't quick enough. His nod belied the look of hurt and anger on his face. "I'm okay, Fargo." he assured him after a breath. "Or, I will be after the 29th, and you're all tucked up in bed, your group are all safe and our project is complete."

Fargo nodded thoughtfully. "Me too." he agreed. "Is your project about Doctor Stark?" he asked quickly as the Sheriff made to move away. "You, Henry and Zane, are you trying to get him back?"

Jack stopped and frowned at him, before he huffed a laugh and smiled ruefully. "You are a doctor after all." he said, mainly to himself. With the man's enthusiasm and his penchant to touch everything and anything he shouldn't Jack some times forgot he wasn't a kid, that he did actually have at least one PhD to his name. "Come with me." he suggested, and walked away, heading to his best friend's lab, knowing the young man would follow him. He wasn't disappointed, and while they chatted about nothing on the way Jack's mind was formulating another plan to keep the young doctor safe, wondering exactly what he could get away with, and whether SARAH and Jo would help him out on this one too.


	7. Chapter 7

April 29th dawned bright, and very early for most of the residents of Eureka. Jack was relieved when he looked at his bedside clock for what felt like the three hundredth time during that night. Relieved that SARAH wouldn't give him too much stress about getting up, it was 5am and he'd had about half an hour of uninterrupted sleep during the whole night.

He didn't actually need to be up so early, he Henry and Zane had figured out they should start their procedure at 10.43 hours, but he couldn't face staying in bed for another minute. And he had to go round up Fargo's group before then and get them all to GD's infirmary.

So he flung off his sheets, got up and padded directly downstairs into the bathroom for his morning ablutions and a shower.

Twenty minutes later he was staring at a bowl of oatmeal that SARAH had made for him, watching it cool, while he was telling himself that he really, really had to eat it. Knowing his AI wouldn't actually let him out of the bunker if all he had for breakfast was a coffee he forced himself to swallow a few spoonfuls before grabbing his stuff and heading for the door.

"Good luck, Sheriff," SARAH said to him as she opened the front door for him. "Let me know how it goes."

"I will, SARAH." Jack assured her with a smile, one he actually felt like giving. "Thanks for all your help, we couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"My pleasure, Jack," she replied fondly, her tone showing him that, and he nodded and patted the wall awkwardly.

"I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I can," he said to her, then stopped as he thought quickly. "Actually, I've got a better idea. Why don't you download into Henry's computers? You can supervise from there." he suggested. "I've just remembered you were in Henry's lab, doing lots of things while we were getting Nathan back."

SARAH was silent for a few moments while she considered it. Then: "Good idea, Jack. I will be there by nine am."

He nodded, grinned and patted the door frame again, and left, whistling to himself as he walked to his Jeep. He tried not to worry as he drove into town, he needed to be on top form today, as well as any other day, but it was difficult. At least there was no one else on the roads as he drove carefully to the Sheriff's office, it was like one of those end of the world movies where he was the only person left alive. It was freaky.

Luckily though, before he had started to really panic, he got to the office and found Jo and Pete already there. "Morning," Jack greeted the pair of them with a relieved grin.

"Carter." Jo replied with a smile, and handed him a large Vinspresso as she did so.

Pete nodded his greeting too, and saluted him with his own bucket of coffee. "D day, Jack." he commented. "You ready?"

It was a loaded question. Was he ready? Was he ever ready for a GD experiment, especially one with such high stakes? "No." he replied with a shake of his head. "But that's never stopped anything before."

"I hear you." Jo said with a nod. "Which is why everything has been planned to the last second." she informed him. She reached for a PAD from the desk next to her and handed it to her boss who took it with a frown. "It's your timetable for today." she explained to him. "Well," she added, her smile turning sly. "Until about eleven anyway. And first thing you've got to do is round up the rest of Pete's group. We've got to get them to GD's infirmary by oh eight thirty."

 

***********************************************************

 

So Jack found his day/morning planned out, which stopped him from fretting about it – much. Instead he spent about an hour rounding up Fargo's group to get them to the infirmary at Global, whether they wanted it or not. he only had to arrest of one them, Lisa, who REALLY didn't want to go with him, despite him using his most persuasive manner.

Fargo was the last on his list, on his route back, and he climbed into the Jeep's passenger seat with a nervous smile. "Morning." he greeted the Sheriff and tried to smile at Jack's answering one.

"You look like crap, Fargo." Jack replied. "Not slept?"

The scientist shook his head and turned to the other two seated in the back of the Jeep. He smiled at Marc, the security guard, who grinned back, and frowned at Lisa and her wrists handcuffed and in her lap. He opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it and turned back to face front. Buckling up he faced Jack and pointed out of the front windshield. "Let's go, Sheriff." he said brightly, and sat back to enjoy the ride.

The journey was uneventful and they got to Global without mishap. Staff from the infirmary were waiting for them when Jack shepherded the trio in, and he looked around the area to see the others of Fargo's group were already there. That had been the plan: to get them here, all safe and sound, and sedate them all to keep them out of the way. Yes, they had discussed ideas between Jo, Jack, a couple of other people and the group, and the overwhelming conclusion was Fargo at the very least needed to be kept away from any buttons, switches, devices in general for the duration. And all, apart from Lisa, seemed to be in agreement that they would join him.

So here they were, all of them being fitted with IV's and sedatives, just enough to keep them unconscious for the duration.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Fargo asked him as they waiting for him to be seen by the next available technician. "The reason I didn't have a flash forward is because I was asleep, sedated, because I didn't have a flash forward."

Jack looked down at him with a faint smile. "I'd much prefer you asleep being the reason, Fargo." he told him sincerely. "Than anything else."

Doug thought for a moment before he nodded. "Me too." he agreed. "Me too."

 

They didn't have to wait long; the infirmary was busy with as many staff as possible to make sure if anything drastic happened they were ready for it. Jack waited for Doug to be seen and ensconced into a bed, all drugged up, and he smiled at him, hopefully encouragingly. "Close your eyes, Doug." he told him with a smile; in a tone he used to use with Zoe when she was a kid. "Go to sleep. I'll fill you in on everything later, I promise."

Fargo smiled and nodded before he closed his eyes and settled. He was asleep in moments, and Jack stayed only long enough to make sure he, and all of the others, were asleep before he left the infirmary and headed for his next job. That was to appear calm and collected on the town's visual intranet system, appealing for calm. Which made him feel like a hypocrite, because despite trying to avoid it, he could feel his own panic rising at every passing minute.

But he forced himself to do the other two jobs Jo had written down for him, and walked into Henry's lab about twenty minutes before the start time.

 

***********************************************************

 

He walked into the lab and stood back to watch for a few moments. One thing he loved about Henry was however frazzled and panicked he looked; he was always in control. As now. Spencer was in the lab with him and Henry was speaking loudly, giving the younger man terse instructions as they both stood in front of computers, typing furiously.

Henry had arranged the lab as they had seen it in their flash forwards – he had moved the computers to the centre of the space and arranged the clock, and the remnants of the original machine in a clear area beyond the computers. Everything else was behind the computers, out of the way, including a large generator that Jack knew was nuclear-powered for the extra boost they were going to need. All of these were hooked up to a frame on the floor next to the clock and time machine, made of silver and aluminium so it was highly conductive.

Jack waited until there seemed to be a lull in the proceedings before he spoke and made his presence felt. "How is it going, Henry?" he said from where he was.

Henry grinned to himself; pleased he had arrived, and turned round to face him. "As ready as we'll ever be." he told him, and beckoned him over with one hand. "I'm pleased you're here, Jack," he told him when the Sheriff approached. "We're all systems go. SARAH is working on the beacon, and she, Zane and Spence have completed the final checks. We're all ready to go."

Jack nodded and looked at the digital clock counting down in pride of place in the middle of the computer bank. It was at sixteen minutes and a few seconds, and he quickly checked his wrist watch against it. They matched, he had set his own countdown earlier in the morning, and he looked up at Henry again. "Is there anything you need me to do?" he asked, virtually pleaded with him. He couldn't stand around and do nothing for fifteen minutes.

Henry knew Jack well enough that he had to be doing something, and he nodded. "Can you go to the infirmary and get some blankets?" he asked. "Its not too far away, it should only take a few minutes."

Jack remembered that the first thing he did was wrap the scientist in a blanket so he nodded. "No problem." he agreed, and jogged out again, just pleased to be doing something. He was conscious of the time though, and wondered about the irony of it all – he'd been waiting for this for a long, very long six months, and now he was running round GD with fifteen minutes to spare.

The staff at the infirmary paid him no mind as he ducked into a store room, the technician checking it let him have four blankets at his quick explanation and he was back out and on his way again.

By the time he got back to Henry's lab, after dodging a couple who really wanted to talk to him, the scientists were getting ready: Henry tweaking something on the generator, Spencer talking with SARAH by the clock. Jack walked over to the young man and studied the machine. It was as he remembered; the clock linked up to it by a few colourful wires, safe in it's liquid helium container.

Spencer grinned at the Sheriff, showing him his excitement. "We could all get Nobels from this." he told him, virtually bouncing on his feet. "How cool would that be, Sheriff? You and me with a Nobel?"

Jack tried to smile at him but he really wasn't in the mood – he was scared. "I just want it to work." he said quietly.

Most people thought the young Spencer was a nerd, a geek with eyes only for explosives and sci fi movies, but he liked to watch people too, liked to decipher the emotions and thoughts of those around him. Jack's non-smile, hunched shoulders, hands clenched into fists, told him how nervous he really was. "It's gonna work, Sheriff." he tried to assure him quietly and nudged him with his elbow to press his point home. "Even if GD has a power cut in the middle of it the generator over there has move than enough juice. It'll be fine."

Jack looked at the earnest young man and started to relax, just a bit. So much so he could take a deep breath and blow it out slowly, rather than hyperventilate as he thought he was going to. "Thanks, Spencer." he told him, and was going to say more, but Henry cleared his throat from behind them.

"Come on, boys." he told them firmly. "Places please!"

 

Jack stood at the back, out of the way, and he spent the time watching what was happening; listening to SARAH interact, and chewing on his thumbnail. There was nothing he could do at this point, Henry's fingers were flying over the keys of one of his keyboards, Spencer was working on the generator, and it flicked on with a quiet hum.

Henry was shouting instructions to his able assistants, SARAH confirming everything Spencer shouting confirmations back, and soon enough Henry was punching the air in success.

"What…?" Jack asked, stepping forward. Henry turned and grinned at him. "We've got a bite!" he crowed. "Nathan's waiting for us. Spencer! SARAH!" he said, turning quickly back to the other two. "Do it, now!"

Spencer literally jumped in the air and punched the enter key on his keyboard with a shout, and SARAH also called out a loud "affirmative" at the same time.

As soon as that happened the short hairs on the back of Jack's neck seemed to stand up and dance to the movements of the huge amounts of power suddenly arcing through the lab. The noise increased exponentially as numbers, readings and equations ran over innumerable computer screens too quickly for Jack to follow, and all he could do was stand back and wait, something he was very bad at doing. And for only a couple of times in his life Jack found himself murmuring prayers he had thought he'd forgotten, but, as the seconds ticked by, reverted to just two words: "Please, Nathan. Please, please, please…"

 

*********************************************************************

 

Nathan had kept half an eye on the beacon from Eureka wherever he went and he noticed it change almost as soon as SARAH got to work. Guessing what it meant he headed back from his chase of that odd blue box and turned towards his hometown. He was not an idiot; he knew this wasn't going to be easy, it was probably was going to hurt like hell. He did think, for one fleeting moment of heading back out the other way, but it was only fleeting. The beacon's flickering changed again, and it took only a moment for him to figure out what it was. Someone was trying to send him a message in Morse code, and a ripple of amusement flittered through his assembled atoms. It was probably SARAH, he thought to himself, but the wording was all Jack. "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE, SCIENTIST," and Nathan always did what he was told. Mostly, some of the time, no, hardly ever really. But this time, this time? He headed straight back to Global, pulling his atom-cloud along with him.

He knew exactly where they were working, he could see the huge amount of power surrounding Henry's lab. It was going to hurt, he knew it, but what was a few minutes of pain compared to getting his life back?

With what passed for a sigh in his current form, Nathan pulled himself together, literally, and dove into the centre of the maelstrom.

 

*********************************************************************

Alison knew what was happening as soon as the lights flickered off; Henry was using so much energy GD's generators couldn't cope with it. So, despite telling herself she wasn't going to go, she found herself standing when the emergency lights came on, bathing the entirety of GD into a green haze. She took a breath, locked her computer, and headed for the lab at the centre of it all.

 

*********************************************************************

 

Jack gasped quietly when he felt something race past his shoulder towards the clock, time machine and metal frame in the centre space. He knew who it was and he stepped forward, unable to stop himself. Henry was concentrating on the figures scrolling in front of him, waiting for the scanners they'd set up around the lab to tell him when new concentrations of atoms appeared.

There! A large conflagration in the metal frame next to the time machine that had caused this problem in the first place. The scanners in there were suddenly reading millions of extra new atoms, and he grinned in delight. "SARAH! Spence!" he shouted. "Step two! On three … two … ONE!" He trusted the other two to so as they had planned and practised, Henry thumped the big blue button in front of him, as the other two – well – Spence smacked his own blue button, and SARAH flicked the electronic switch on hers, and they all started to monitor the power the generator suddenly shoved into the metal frame in front of them.

And because of it Jack could finally start to see what they had spent the last six months working on.

Golden motes of dust started to appear in the frame, soon coalescing into a mass, and then a discernable shape.

It was Nathan, and Jack stepped forward, he knew what was going to happen next.

He'd only ever heard Nathan scream once before like this, like his skin was being ripped from his body in slow strips, and that was when he was moments away from spontaneously combusting.

Jack stepped forward again with the aim of getting to him to try and comfort him, to stop his pain, but Henry also knew what was going to happen and he was there, hand tightly around Jack's arm, holding him back. "He's almost back!" the Scientist shouted at him over the noise. "Look!"

Jack did as he was told and looked back, finding Henry was right – Nathan was virtually solid again, and in between the Sheriff exhaling and inhaling he was back completely. Jack pulled out of Henry's grasp and ran towards him.

Nathan at least had stopped screaming, he was lying on the floor, curled in a tight ball, as small as he could around his core, and Jack grabbed the blankets he had left within reach and crashed to his knees beside him. He quickly unfurled one and threw it over the scientist, paused a moment thinking what the hell he was going to do now, but simply decided to pull him close and up off the floor.

The bigger man was shivering; eyes squeezed shut, and buried his face in Jack's chest, seeking his warmth. His nerve endings were on fire, his brain couldn't compute it all, and instead all he wanted to do was be warm.

Henry and Spence ran over to them and quickly wrapped the other blankets around Nathan's solid form while SARAH called for medical assistance, and Jack just held him close. "Nathan?" the Sheriff called, trying to get his attention.

The scientist opened his eyes and blinked up at the Sheriff, bewildered, cold, and residual bolts of pain flashed through his skin. But he recognised Jack, felt and heard his voice rumble in his chest, his arms tightly around him, and he smiled slightly. "…Jack…?" he murmured, his voice rusty, his throat hoarse. "…did it…?"

Jack nodded, his grin wide. "We did, Nathan." he assured him. "You're back."

Nathan slowly moved one of his leaden arms so he could gently touch Jack's cheek. "…Jack…" he said again, which was enough for the Sheriff.

Jack, doing something he had wanted to do for a long time, bent low over his armful and pressed his lips to Nathan's cold ones in a chaste kiss. And when Nathan didn't pull away, in fact he used his hand on Jack's face to urge him down again, the Sheriff dove in for more.

This time Nathan kissed him back, revelling in his taste, warmth and solidness. They only broke off when the medics rushed in, dragging a gurney with them, and Nathan ended up clinging to Jack for the reassurance and protection he could give him. Which was good, because Jack was never going to let him go again.

Henry grinned down at them when they finally broke off and reached for is mentee, gently rubbing Nathan's back over the blankets. "April 29th 2010." he said fondly to them both. "Happy Rebirthday, Nathan."

Nathan smiled weakly and snuggled close to the Sheriff, burying his face in his throat. "Thanks." he breathed quietly. "But I never want to do that again."

Henry chuckled, amused. "What, come back from the dead? Or kiss Jack?" he asked him impishly.

Nathan opened one eye and smiled wider. "I want to kiss Jack, a lot. He's good at it."

Jack grinned, blushed endearingly, and hugged him a bit tighter. If possible.

 

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Alison watched from outside the lab, angry and upset at what she was seeing. With the slight differences in the way they had gotten Nathan back she had hoped that everything else would change – that they would get him back but she wouldn't have to watch her husband to be kiss someone else, as if he meant it. She didn't really care that he had kissed a man, what she did care about was that that man was Jack, someone she had trusted, someone she had relied on a lot when she had been left here alone again. Jack had been her rock when Nathan had had disappeared, and then all of this had happened and she had found out the truth. The hard way.

So she watched, upset and alone, angry too, as Jack held onto Nathan for dear life, the man holding him back, for a few moments before she walked away and left them to it.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack watched from the back of the room while a single doctor scanned Nathan and checked him out. He was making sure the other medical staff and other scientists didn't intrude, almost as soon as the word had gone out that an experiment had worked in bringing someone back from the dead, the infirmary had become swamped with people, all vying for a look. They were all shut out, Jo had done him proud, she was standing one side of the main doors, armed to the teeth with one of her many, many weapons, Zane standing beside her with something considerably smaller, something she called a 'noisy cricket'.

Jack had left them to it when he had heard Zane tell one of the rabid scientists that he was quite happy to injure them if they wanted to get into the infirmary, quite happy.

Now though, Jack stood by the door to the private room, arms folded across his chest, eyes taking in everything going on in the room.

Nathan knew he was there, he could feel his gaze heavily on his skin, among the other very odd sensations tantalising his nerves. Be he could mostly feel Jack and his worried gaze, so he opened his eyes and looked over at him. Nathan had never seen him like this before: he was standing still, his legs slightly apart, arms folded across his chest, looking down but at him through hooded eyes. Normally the Scientist could read the expressions on his handsome face, but this one was something he'd not seen before – the complete lack of any emotion. "Jack?" he called, trying to get something out of him. "Jack?"

It took two further calls for the Sheriff to look up at him and actually take note of the Scientist, and he gave him a small smile. "Are you all right, Nathan?" he asked, and took a couple of steps towards him. He looked up quickly to check with the doc, who nodded at him, smiled encouragingly and then left them too it.

Nathan nodded. "Just … feeling." he commented and reached out a shaky hand to him.

Jack quickly took the two more steps needed and took that hand in both of his. "You're cold." he stated and quickly looked around for some more blankets.

So that was one of the sensations he was feeling – cold. As soon as he said it Nathan realised he was freezing, and the only heat in the room seemed to be from Jack's hands. He would not admit, ever, to emitting a whimper when Jack let him go, but he probably did.

The Sheriff though, didn't go far, the other three blankets Jack had brought with them were puddled at the foot of the bed and he quickly unfurled them and covered him up quickly and efficiently, and wrapped the fourth one around his shoulders. "Is that better?" he asked him, and quickly slipped a hand under the blankets to take hold his hand again.

Nathan clasped his hand and breathed deeply before he nodded. "Better." he agreed.

Jack pulled a chair from the wall with his free hand and sat down close to him so he could hang onto him. He needed to feel that he was actually there, with him, and he wasn't imagining it so he pinched his arm just above where it disappeared under the blanket, just to make sure.

Nathan noticed and smiled. "Don't worry, Jack." he assured him. "I am fully corporeal."

Jack smiled, a small twist of the corner of his mouth. "Good." he answered. "Very good." He smiled a little wider and squeezed the finders he held a bit more. "I'm very pleased. I was worried."

Nathan squeezed back but whatever he was going to say was swallowed up by a yawn, and Jack laughed quietly. "Go to sleep, Nathan." he told him fondly. "Henry can answer everything when you wake up."

Nathan shook his head. "No." he told him fondly in reply. "He can't tell me everything. There are a lot of things only you can tell me, and I'm going to get the answers."

Jack leant forward towards him and pressed their foreheads together for a few moments, his own eyes closed. "A lot of things have happened, Scientist," he told him quietly. "And not all as good as this. I missed you, a lot, and wanted you back. Now you are, and we can talk about it when you're stronger. Go to sleep, I'll be here, as much as I can be."

Nathan smiled at him and closed his own eyes. "I'll take that." he agreed and settled down to sleep. He didn't think he could, especially when Jack pulled away, but he was obviously exhausted and was asleep in moments.

 

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Jo did what she could, with help from Zane and Henry, helping out when they could, but whatever they did to avoid calling Jack wasn't enough, and they had to concede defeat early the next afternoon. Jo found him asleep where he had thought he would be, in Nathan's protected room, security guards outside, who wouldn't let her in until she gave them her little used Global ID. She didn't go far into the room, just enough so she could shut the door behind her and wake Jack with the noise. He was seated in the chair he had pulled over hours before, his arms folded on the mattress in front of him, his forehead on his hands. He jumped, startled, at the noise, and sat up quickly, noting then his neck and shoulders hurt like hell. "Ow." he murmured and used one hand to rub the back of his neck. Jo walked over to him and laid her hands on his shoulders, gently rubbing his tense muscles while she looked over him and checked out the still-sleeping scientist in front of him. Nathan had a bit more colour in his face now, and he looked comfortable and solid, and she could see Jack was holding onto his hand below the blankets why he slept. There was a bit more grey in his hair than there was before, a couple of wrinkles around his eyes that she hadn't noticed before, and he was a bit thin, but apart from that he looked okay. "Is he alright?" she asked quietly.

Jack nodded and smiled up at her, stretching his neck to see her behind him, and it was a proper smile, something she hadn't seen from him for a while. "He's okay." he answered her. "Tired, a bit cold, but okay."

"Good." she told him, and meant it. And then got down to business. "I'm sorry." she apologised first. "But…" and let go of one of his shoulders to hand him the list of things she needed him for.

 

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Alison waited until the computer programme she had set informed her that the Sheriff had left Global's grounds before she left her self-imposed hibernation in her office and headed for the infirmary. She had watched while the people succeeded in bringing her ex husband and fiancé back, chewed on her nail while he kissed someone else, and waited, hidden away, as he was loaded onto a gurney and taken to the infirmary by a couple of surprised medical technicians. Then, telling herself to go and see him there and then, her feet took her back to her office and she hid there.

Now it was the next day, she had gone home late, and had had time to think it over before she came back the GD in the morning, now they had actually succeeded. Up until now she had been unsure, not knowing whether they would, trying to persuade herself not to worry too much until he was actually here. Which was now.

And despite herself she couldn't stay away she had to go and see him, of only to make sure it was him, and not some other construct.

But facing Jack was another matter entirely. So she took her time, waited for him to leave, and then headed to the infirmary.

The security guard guards around the infirmary entrance surprised her but then she spotted the groups of scientists around the area about the same time as they spotted her. When they approached her, en masse, demanding entrance, access and experimentation rights to Nathan, she realised why the Sheriff had thought it necessary. Ignoring the lot of them she ducked into the infirmary and was directed to the private room, again guarded by more security personnel. She slipped in, after ID was checked and compared to a list on the Pad the guard had, and stood by the door, mirroring Jack's position from the day before.

Nathan was still asleep, he had woken for a few moments earlier, enough for the doctor in charge of his care, Carole Willow, to check him over, tell him that Jack had had to go, but he would be back as soon as he could, and ask him if he wanted to eat something, which he declined, before he went back to sleep again. She studied him with mixed emotions, he was as handsome as he always had been; his beard as neatly trimmed as before, his skin a bit pale, with some new grey at his temples, but apart from that he was exactly the same as he had looked … before. She knew, as she stood there, that everything had changed between them. Where she had been assured of his love before, she was concerned now, and where she had been sure of her own emotions, she was confused now. He had shown her, and everyone else, his feelings for the Sheriff ran deeper than anyone had thought, and she quickly lost her confidence about him. She had spent time asking herself whether she could keep Jack to his side of their admittedly selfish, on her part, bargain, whether she could force him to walk away from someone he obviously cared about.

She sighed and took a couple of steps forward towards him, and studied the monitors around him for a few moments. Everything was calm and steady, blood pressure, pulse, and O2 level all in safe range, along with temperature; he was simply asleep, wrapped up in several blankets, and he looked fine. Whatever else she felt about him, she was astounded that they had managed it and he was back and with them, in one piece, in front of her. But then again, this was Eureka.

He looked calm and relaxed, and she decided she wasn't really in the mood to wake him and confront him just yet. So instead she smiled slightly, and walked back out again to sleep on.

 

******************************************************************

 

When Nathan woke again it was the middle of the night and the baying scientists had gone. His private room was dark apart from a lamp somewhere, and he blinked and looked around to find out where the light was coming from.

Jack was slumped in a chair at the corner of the room, asleep by the looks of things, a lamp clipped on to the arm of the chair over his shoulder, illuminating him sleeping, a book in his lap, held very loosely in his hand. The Scientist studied him for a few moments before he did anything, smiling slightly at the book he held: 'Astronomy: A self-teaching guide'. And it looked like he had read quite a bit of it from where his thumb held it open.

Nathan studied him for a while, taking in his rumpled appearance, his dark stubble on his chin, his normally immaculate uniform and boots covered in spots of dirt and what looked like oil, and wondered what he had been doing. The scientist had no idea how long he had been back, how long he had been sleeping, but he did know Jack had been with him as long as he could, and from the state he was in now he probably hadn't gone home either.

Which told him a lot.

His relationship with the Sheriff was odd, even he admitted to himself, he had treated Jack like a fuck buddy rather than a lover or a partner, and he had thought that suited everyone. The Sheriff was very adept at hiding his feelings though, Nathan found that out from the brief time he had spent rooting around in his brain.

He sighed. Nathan knew he had a huge decision to make, whether to stay with his 'safe' relationship with Alison that, if he were completely honest, would probably end the same way their first marriage had, or take a chance on the Sheriff in front of him. At least it wouldn't be boring, he thought dryly, and he might actually be happy rather than just content.

Alison was not going to be happy whatever he did, he knew that, but knowing something and dealing with it were two vastly different things.

Henry knocked on the door gently after he had been cleared by the security outside and walked in. He smiled in welcome when he saw Nathan look up at him, and he received a smile back. "Henry," the Scientist greeted him with a relieved smile. "It's good to see you." He was speaking quietly and Henry knew why – Jack was still asleep in the corner.

"Its very good to see you, Nathan," Henry replied and perched a hip on the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Nathan concentrated for a few moments before he replied. He didn't feel so tired, his nerve endings had seemed to calm down, and he thought he was hungry too. "Pretty good." he answered him. "I could eat."

Henry nodded, satisfied that their work had paid dividends. "I'll get you something," he assured him. "Something bland."

Nathan made a face but didn't complain. Instead he studied his friend for a few moments before he said anything. When he had 'left' Henry had been getting a bit better, seeming to pull himself out of his depression after losing Kim, slowly and with help from Jack. He still had some shadows in his eyes but not as dark as before and Nathan was relieved. "How are you doing, Henry?" he asked him meaningfully.

Henry knew what he meant. "A lot better," he answered him. "While you've been floating around the universe I've been getting better here. You'll have to tell me everything." he added, light of all the possible knowledge flashing through his eyes. "What did you see? Where did you go? Could you go back in time? Forward? What was it like?"

Nathan laughed at his quick fire questions and raised a hand to stop them. "Give me a few days to sort through it all and I'll tell you everything," he asked of him. "I promise. But only if you tell me what's been going on here." He looked over at Jack and Henry followed his gaze.

The Mayor laid a hand on his friend's shoulder to comfort. "Jack was the driving force in getting you back," he explained as they both watched him sleep. "He and SARAH had already started to work on it before Forward day. After that was when he called me in."

Nathan frowned and turned back to face him. "Alison?" he asked. "And what's Forward day?"

Henry opted for the easy option first. "Everyone on the planet had something that's been called a 'flash forward' or 'forward dreaming' at the same time six months ago," he explained. "The FBI are dealing with it," he added quickly before his friend could ask. "You know what they're like passing information on. They don't. Basically everyone passed out and saw what they were going to be doing in six months time, on April 29th. Jack and I saw getting you back." He looked up at Jack again. "He came to me after that, asked for my help. But most of the ideas that worked were his, you know what he's like."

Nathan nodded and turned back to face the Sheriff again. "What am I going to do, Henry?" he asked him quietly. "Alison, or Jack?"

Henry gently patted his shoulder and watched Jack too. "I can't tell you which one, Nathan," he told him. "But…" he added when Nathan faced him again with a muted glare. "I can tell you that Jack fought for you every step of the way. He kept on when we were running out of steam, when he was exhausted, hurt, and when everyone else gave up," he explained. "Alison … moved on," he added, trying to sort out the proper words in his own head after a pause. "She was going to pull the plug, the costs were getting up there." He stopped again, and thought about it. Did he tell him about the ultimatum Alison had yanked out of Jack when the Sheriff was vulnerable, or not? Jack wasn't going to say anything, he knew that, and he didn't think Alison would either. But Nathan had a right to know, and whether it coloured his decision was only a good thing. "Alison missed you, mourned for you, definitely," he reassured him. "But she gave up on you and moved on when Jack didn't. And when it looked like we would succeed without her help, she forced Jack to agree to back off from you, or she would pull the plug and have the clock removed."

Nathan's frown deepened as he tried to compute what he was telling him. It was difficult to envisage his fiancé doing something like that; the last time they had spoken was an hour or two before they were about to get married again. But then he remembered how she had felt to him when he came back here to check out the beacon. "What do you mean, back off?" he queried, again keeping his voice low in fear of disturbing Jack.

Henry huffed. "I can't remember the exact words she used," he admitted. "But she basically told him, made him promise, to leave you alone when we succeeded, or she would pull everything. I know he's barely left your side for the past day or so, but he's a man of his word, so don't get used to it," he cautioned.

It took the other scientist a few moments to figure out what this new feeling was coursing through him, but then Nathan realised: he was angry. He knew she could be a bitch, hell; he had the scars and divorce papers to prove it, but to do something like that? He knew Henry was right, Jack was a man of his word, so even though he was there now, he probably wouldn't be for much longer. "What time is it, Henry?" he asked him firmly. "Too late to call her?"

Henry checked his watch and nodded. "Its two am," he answered. "Time enough for me to take Jack home. Let me get you something to eat, okay?"

Nathan nodded and watched him stand up and eave the small room before he turned back to Jack.

Only to find the man watching him out of hooded eyes.

He sighed and shook his head. "How long have you been awake, Jack?" he asked him grimly. "How much did you hear? And what else do you need to tell me?"

Jack sat up properly and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand, trying to rub the ache and tension out of it. Truth was he hadn't been awake long, hadn't heard much, mainly because they had been speaking quietly. "Not long," he admitted, answering the questions in order. "And I didn't hear much, just something about Alison." He shrugged. "So I can't answer the third one, sorry."

Nathan sighed and fumbled with the bed controller so he could raise the head of his bed a bit more to view him. "Why did you bring me back, Jack?" he asked him bluntly. "I thought you would have jumped at the chance to try with Alison."

Jack frowned at him and then shook his head and stood. "I would have thought you'd have figured it out, Nathan," he retired darkly and turned away from him.

Nathan sighed as he watched him. He knew the Sheriff well enough by now to know what the tense shoulders, hunched back, arms folded across his chest were showing. "You should have said something, Jack," he retorted grimly. "I'm not a mind reader."

Jack snorted in derision. "When?" he asked him, turning back around to face him. "When you were insulting me, trying to get me killed? Or when you were asking your ex wife to marry you again?"

"Maybe when I had my cock up your ass!" Nathan snapped back. "Or even better, when yours was in mine?"

"Would you have believed me?" Jack asked him after a few moments of surprise. "Maybe when I'd just cum in you, would you have believed me if I said 'I love you, Nathan'? Because I did tell you that," he continued. "And you still went and asked Alison to marry you." He sighed and shook his head. "She's also just given birth to your baby, so I guess I know where I stand."

Nathan took a breath, sudden panic flooding him, but not because he hadn't known about Jenna, he had, it was obvious when he had come back, called by the beacon. Because Jack was going to use her to back off, to leave him, and he hated that idea with a passion. "No, you don't, Sheriff," he told him firmly and pushed himself to sit up straight. "I was having second thoughts before this." He waved one hand to encapsulate the entire disappearing – re appearing thing.

Jack looked up at him with another frown, and Nathan really didn't like that one – it was his fearful 'the-world-is-gonna-explode-and-I-don't-know-how-to-stop-it' frown. "You were?" he questioned, confused. "But I, you…I mean…" He huffed, shook his head and tried again. "You acted as if you were really happy, as if you couldn't wait to get married again."

Nathan shrugged and looked away briefly. Now or never, he knew that, and decided on now. "I was wondering whether I would feel better about it all when we were married, that I would get back that … contentment again that we had at the start of our first marriage."

Jack's frown deepened and he lifted his hand to rub his forehead, something he only did when he was really worried. "I thought marriage was about being happy," he said grimly. "That's why Abby and I got married, to be happy, not just content."

Nathan shrugged again; he seemed to be doing a lot of that. "I was happy working," he explained. "Alison didn't like it, that I was spending much more time with my first love."

Jack shook his head and with one of those annoying leaps of intuition he had it in one. "If I could find whoever told you you didn't deserve to be happy, I'd punch them in the face. Hard. A lot."

Nathan huffed a laugh. It was beaten into me at an early age, I had brains for a reason, and not for my own benefit." He looked the Sheriff up and down. "Whatever benefit that might be."

Jack's frown faded and he took a couple of steps towards him. "What do you want, Nathan?" he asked him sincerely. "I want you to be happy, not just content. So," he paused, looking down for a moment. He knew what he was going to say was going to hurt, but he couldn't not say it either. "If being with Alison will make you happy, not just content, then that's what I want for you too."

Nathan studied him fir a few moments. "What about you?" he asked him. "What would you do if I chose you?'

Jack's grin swallowed his face and shone out of his eyes. It was something Nathan loved to see from him, something that was rare and had been sorely lacking for months even before he had … left. And the Scientist didn't need to hear anything from him in response; all of Jack's emotions were laid out for him to read. Which was good, because that was when Henry walked back in with a tray loaded with hot soup, bread and a mug of something steaming too.

It smelt delicious, and Nathan was suddenly reminded that he hadn't eaten in months. Jack laughed quietly when he heard the stomach rumbling and saw the grin on Nathan's face when Henry placed the tray on the bed next to him. The Sheriff stepped closer and quickly activated the bedside table, pulling it up from its slot on the side of Nathan's bed and slid it over his friend's lap. "Eat," he told him, and let Henry put the tray on it so it was easier for the Scientist to reach. "Eat." Henry agreed. "And I'll take Jack home to sleep properly," he added with a meaningful look at the Sheriff.

"And a shower," Nathan commented impishly as he broke off some bread. "You're a little ripe, Jack," he added and dipped his bread into the soup. He grinned as he watched the man in question look himself up and down, and smiled a little more at the taste at the soup-saturated bread. It was good and he dug in, realising as he ate it he had missed things like this, simple things like soup and fresh bread, and the chai tea that was steaming in the mug.

The three of them spent a pleasant half an hour talking, joking and laughing with each other while Nathan ate, and that was another thing the Scientist had missed: the easy camaraderie the three of them had shared. He couldn't avoid looking at Jack either – really looking and seeing him. The guy was handsome, funny, cute and even intelligent in his own way. He didn't take any crap from him, or anyone, Nathan remembered every time Jack had stood his ground against him, against them all, and General Mansfield too. He also knew the pair of them were compatible; they worked well as a team, they played even better, and the Scientist concluded that life with the Sheriff wouldn't be dull. But he also needed all the facts, and that meant talking with Alison. Since she hadn't come to see him, that he knew about, he was going to have to find a way to get her to come to see him, or go and find her himself. In the morning though, now he was content enough to eat, enjoy the company of his friends and watch as Jack started to nod off again beside him.


	9. Chapter 9

This is the last chapter! Finally finished! Thanks to all of you that have stuck with this one, that turned into a monstrosity without my permission!

(also, some spoilers for Season 4 – but AU)

 

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Alison was surprised when she answered her phone about ten am the next morning to hear Nathan on the other end of it. He sounded like his old self; confident, all business, knowing what he wanted and expecting her to comply. "Good morning, Alison." he greeted her firmly. "I need to speak to you, now. Please meet me in the infirmary."

She was surprised for a moment but realised this was Nathan she was talking too. "Good morning," she replied drily. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. And I've got a meeting."

"Cancel it," Nathan answered, and she knew she should have expected that. "I need to speak with you." With that he hung up, and she was left looking at her little phone with a frown. Sighing she then used it to call Tess and re-arrange their meeting and found herself doing as she had been told, and going to see him.

He was dressed when she got there, in a long sleeved t-shirt and sweat pants, and she had not seen him as casual for a long time. He was lying on his bed, legs stretched out in front of him, bare feet crossed at the ankles, leaning back against a couple of pillows and the raised bed head. He looked up at her when she arrived and put down the iPad he had been studying to look at her with the same intensity that he had been giving the information on the pad. "Alison," he greeted her as she stepped in, shutting the door behind her. "You're looking well. How are you? And how is my daughter?"

"I'm fine, thanks," she answered him, actually pleased that he had started on a gentle stance that she could deal with. "Your daughter, Jenna, is fine too."

He nodded. "I want to see her," he told her, his normal firm tone belaying any protest she might come up with. "And I want access too."

She nodded and moved over to sit down in a chair beside him. "I thought as much," she answered him. "Jenna deserves the time with her father."

He nodded and watched her for some more moments before he spoke again. "I had thought you'd argue with me over that," he admitted.

She shook her head. "Not over that," she assured him. "I just need to know where you're going to be living before we can put something formal in place."

Nathan nodded and thought for a moment before he replied. After what Henry and Jack had told him he wasn't really surprised that she hadn't told him to come home with her, but he was disappointed. But he had never been one to avoid confrontation, far from it, and he wasn't going to start now. "What about everything else?" he asked her bluntly. "Why haven't you been to see me? The last time I saw you we were just about to get married. What happened with that?"

She stared at him for a few moments before she pulled together a response. "You died," she told him darkly, voice showing her anger and hurt. "You left."

He shook his head and looked away from her for a few moments to compose a reply. "Why is it that the person in this town with the lowest IQ was actually the only person who figured out what was going on with me?" he asked her and showed her the iPad he had been looking at. Henry had synced it with all the information on Project Nathan he had collated, including Jack and SARAH's files before he got involved. "I didn't die, Alison. Did you not listen to Jack when he told you?"

She looked away for a moment almost guiltily, because she hadn't. She had only listened to him when he told her that Nathan had gone, nothing else, just the crushing pain of loss, anger and fear. She had blamed Jack for it; she knew he hadn't forgotten in one of her darkest moments her demanding he explain why he hadn't stepped in rather than Nathan. She had just stopped herself from saying: because no one would miss you this much, Carter; but she was sure he would have heard her underlying words anyway. She couldn't say that to Nathan, he had seemed to be a little different from before, a bit more considerate to Jack especially.

"I did listen to him, Nathan," she told him in answer to his question. "You had gone, and Kevin and I were alone again."

He knew her better than that though, and he shook his head. "What did you do to him, Ally?" he asked her darkly. "Don't forget, I know, I've been the brunt of your tongue when you're hurt before. Henry told me something had gone on, but I need to hear it from you."

"Why?" she demanded from him snappish and defensive. "You've always listened to Henry more anyway. Why do you need to hear it from me?"

He sighed. "Because he told me you were actively trying to stop them from continuing," he answered her, keeping his temper by strength of will. "I need to know why from you."

She watched him for a moment before she turned away from him. "Kevin knew you were gone, Nathan." she told him, not the complete truth but that had factored into her decision. "I didn't want him to be even more confused if … when they succeeded." She stopped and he waited silently for her to continue, for a more informative answer. It took a minute of two but eventually she continued. "And I wanted to move on with my life," she admitted finally, her voice quiet. "You'd been such a large part of my life for over a decade, I wanted to … " She paused and shook her head. "'Go on without you' is not true," she tried to think it though aloud. "I didn't want to spend months hoping they could get you back, and then find out they couldn't," she managed. "And when the flash forwards happened, all I could see was you and Jack kissing." she added finally and turned back to face him. "He lied to me when he told me you two weren't sleeping together, didn't he?" she demanded, angry again. "I suppose because he didn't want to hurt me."

Nathan breathed out heavily before he spoke. "Probably," he agreed. "I didn't treat him very well, Ally," he admitted. "I don't think either of us did, did we?"

It took a few moments but Alison shook her head, agreeing with him "No," she told him darkly. "We didn't." Thoughts ran through her mind, of what to do now, what she wanted now, what she thought he wanted now, not being able to read him as well as she used to.

He was looking down at the pad in his hands, it's screen blank, not even looking at it. He had a difficult choice to make; Jack or Alison, he couldn't have both, he had tried that before and Jack had gotten hurt. Whatever he did now was going to hurt one of them, he knew it, but he really didn't know which way to turn. Alison wasn't helping him, Jack had, and he felt himself drawn to the other man.

Nathan looked up and quickly checked what his companion was doing. She was looking down at her feet, frowning thoughtfully, and he used her distraction to activate the pad and fire up the email app. The pad was fully loaded, it had Jack's email and mobile addresses in it and he quickly sent off a message to him. "I need to talk to you, can you make it to GD? N."

He wasn't expecting a reply quickly, but he did have a bad habit of underestimating the man. The reply came almost immediately: "On my way. Are you okay? J."

He smiled gently and tapped another reply. "I'm okay. A is here, I just need to speak to you."

The reply was a bit longer in coming, which was telling to the Scientist, but he was relieved because of it. "Okay" was the simple text, and Nathan looked up with another smile.

Which faded when he noticed Alison watching him. "Whom are you messaging?" she asked him curiously, taking a step forward. She was going to take another step but stopped when he told her. "Jack, he's on his way here."

"Why?" she asked him bleakly.

"Because this involves him too, Alison," Nathan explained he thought unnecessarily. "He saved my life, I owe it to him to listen to what he has to say."

Alison found herself frowning again. "He's been here almost constantly for 48 hours. Have you been asleep for all of that time? Your chart doesn't say anything about prolonged effects." She was concerned suddenly – yes she was up to date with his medical records but wouldn't put it past him to hide something from her.

His smile of amusement reminded her of previous times when he was hers. "No, Ally," he reassured her. "We've been talking about other things." He wasn't going to tell her what. "And we've both slept some too, me more than him I think. But feel free to check," he added and indicated to the small computer on the foot of his bed. It was his chart, and she took him up on it, something to do while they waited. It also meant that she didn't have to look at him or talk to him as she concentrated on the records on the little computer.

There is nothing there that she hadn't known about, and she found herself reading it twice, actually hoping that Jack would be there soon.

He obliged, about ten minutes later, and his entrance was met with smiles of relief from Alison and actual pleasure at seeing him from Nathan.

Jack smiled back, quickly checking him over, and was relieved when he couldn't see any more. "Are you alright, Nathan?" he asked him, and walked over to him. "You called?"

Nathan nodded. "I'm fine, Jack," he assured him. "I've got a clean bill of health, my doctor assures me I can go home, probably tomorrow." He looked over at Alison. "But I'm sure my old house has been given away by now?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Tess Fontana," she answered. "But the other one was yours anyway. That's still waiting for you."

Nathan nodded and turned back to the Sheriff. "I don't know if I can make a decision about everything else now." he explained to them. "I don't think…"

Jack quickly stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm, shaking his head. "Nathan," he reproved fondly. "Stop. You've got your life back, why don't you simply live it? You've got a new daughter to get to know, you got Kevin waiting for you too. You've got a whole lot of science to discover, I know for a fact Henry has a load of projects he's been waiting for you to help him on. And don't forget everyone else," he added with a hand wave to encapsulate all of Eureka. "Fargo is desperate to see you, I think he's missed being yelled at. Vince is going to fall over with joy when he sees you back, you did enjoy his more exotic concoctions after all," he added with a grin, making Alison nod her agreement too.

"You did," she agreed. "I remember some of the more odd mixtures the pair of you came up with."

Jack grinned at her, something he hadn't been able to do for a while. "What was it? Tofu, avocado and kumquat soup?"

Nathan remembered that one and nodded wryly. "That one was a bit foul," he admitted. "But most of the meals he made for me were lovely."

Alison was surprised at how easily Jack had changed the way the conversation had been going. She knew he was right, Nathan couldn't be forced into making a decision right away, if ever, and she had no right to make him. But could she ready, willing and able to fight for her ex husband? A lot of people would expect her to pull him to an alter straight away, but he hadn't mentioned it, and neither had she. Watching them interact now she knew the pair of them cared a lot about each other; Jack laid his hand on Nathan's arm, the Scientist, despite not liking being touched at the best of times, hadn't pushed him off. He was looking at the Sheriff with a fond expression on his face that made her smile.

"He's right, Nathan," she told him "However much it might pain me to say it," she added with a wry smile at both of them to lessen the apparent harshness of her words. "You have a second chance at life, you shouldn't waste it by worrying about us." She smiled at Jack's surprised expression. "I'm not giving up, Sheriff." she told him, amused. "And I know you won't, whatever I ask." she added quickly before both of them could protest – and by the dark look Nathan gave her she knew he was about to. "Where are you going to live?" she asked him.

Which was definitely not an offer, and they all knew it. Nathan shrugged and looked up at Jack. "Can I stay with you for a few days?" he asked him. "Just until I can get things sorted out. I guess I need to start again with everything."

"That's fine," the Sheriff found himself saying, when his brain was saying: not such a good idea. "SARAH would love to mother you, as well as me." He grinned at Nathan's rolled eyes. "Don't worry about your stuff, either," he told him as well. "It's all in storage, including your Beemer. And I think Alison did something with your accounts too?" he queried, and looked over at her.

Alison nodded. "I just had them frozen," she explained when Nathan looked at her. "I didn't want to deal with it all," she explained at his frown. "We just need to call your lawyer and defrost them."

And with that it was sorted. Nathan's doctor was happy to give him a clean bill of health and release him, especially when she found out he was planning to stay with Jack for a while.

 

****************************************************************

 

Walking out with the Sheriff felt like old times, although Nathan was dressed in some jeans and a sweater Jack had found him from somewhere. He stayed close to the other man as they walked out of the elevator and across GD's main lobby, he wasn't used to everyone turning and staring at him, including the security guards.

Jack noticed too and made sure he put himself in between Nathan and any scientist that looked too predatory or got too close. "They'll get over it in a few weeks, Nathan," he said quietly to the Scientist as he hustled him out of the main entrance towards his jeep parked right out front. At Nathan's raised eyebrow he had the grace to look embarrassed. "What?" he asked as he unlocked it and pulled open his door. "It was an emergency."

Nathan smiled as he climbed in the passenger seat, shaking his head ruefully. "I missed you, Jack," he told him as he strapped himself in. "Really."

 

****************************************************************

 

It was easy, probably too easy, for Nathan to slip back into his life and start afresh. Jack had been right, SARAH was happy to mother him, and she and the Sheriff were pleased to let him and his things into their home. Soon enough Jack's ordered minimalism had been encroached with Nathan's things, out of storage most of it and scattered around the house. He had moved into the third bedroom that had last seen Lexi's occupation. It had taken about a week to get everything re-instated, the DOD seemed to be easier to convince than anything else –Jack suggested that they wanted his brain, as opposed to the banks and his accountant who wanted the interest his money was earning them. But soon enough he was back to as he had been, apart from actually wanting to go home now, which he hadn't before.

Before he had worked so hard because he had preferred GD to the silence and loneliness of his house, even when he had been rekindling his relationship with Alison.

Jack and SARAH treated him as if he had always been part of their odd little family situation, and he supposed as he helped Jack potter around the kitchen one evening after work, he had been ever since the pair of them had arrived here virtually together. He quickly chopped the vegetables Jack requested and handed them over for his host to shove in the quietly sizzling pan with chicken, onions, garlic and chilli. "It's very good of you to let Jack try and cook, SARAH," he said dryly, fondly amused as he watched the Sheriff, now not in his uniform, stir their meal.

"I let him play every so often, Doctor Stark," she replied fondly. "He has not burnt the bunker down yet."

Nathan chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that always went straight to Jack's groin. "The evening isn't over yet, SARAH," the Scientist cautioned, and laughed again when Jack gave him a baleful look. "You don't scare me, Sheriff," Nathan told him fondly and patted his arm as he stepped past him to get to the fridge. "At all."

 

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It took about a week for the Scientist to be comfortable (ish) out in public, and a bit longer for him to be able to go about his business without back up. The first time he, Henry and Jack had gone to Café Diem they had created a crowd; it had been rumour to most of the townspeople that he had returned, only a few had actually seen him in the flesh, and as soon as word had gotten out that he was out and about they had appeared en masse. Vincent had done a roaring trade, Henry and Jack had tucked the Scientist away in a corner of a booth and the trio had carried on their lunch and conversation as if there wasn't a circus going on around them.

Nathan had managed to get out of the bunker on his own a week later – Jack, Henry, Alison and even Fargo had been travelling with him to and from GD up until he had put his foot down. He had gone to the dry cleaners to pick up his suits, Callie, as usual, had done an excellent job, and had gotten in and out with only the minimum amount of fuss. Jack seemed to be right – as soon as the initial shock had worn off the townspeople, scientist or not, had gotten used to him being around again and turned to the next discovery.

It was easy for him to settle back into his life, his new life. Alison was willing to give him access to Jenna and Kevin, and he found himself bonding, or rebonding in Kevin's case, with them both.

More often than not, if he had the kids or not, he seemed to gravitate towards the Sheriff. Jack didn't demand anything from him, all he asked was Nathan let him know where he was going to spend the night or if he was in trouble somewhere and needed some assistance, but that was it. Alison, on the other hand, demanded itineraries of where he was going to be daily, hourly if he had the kids (which he supposed was only natural), and also demanded he join her for dinner or lunch at least twice a week. The second time it dissolved into an argument he got up and walked out of the café, letting his feet taken him somewhere else – not really surprised when he ended up sharing Jack's lunch with him in the Sheriff's office, bending his ear back about his ex wife. Jack commiserated with him, reassured him when he fretted about being the father to a toddler, listened to him when he needed to talk, left him alone when he needed solitude, and after about a month the Scientist realised as he drove home that the Bunker was home now, and he had no intention, or inclination to move out.

"Of course I don't want you to move out," Jack retorted when Nathan asked him over beers when the overly tired Sheriff stumbled in later that evening. "I love having you here, Nathan. SARAH loves having you here. Do you want to move out?" he asked with a frown.

Nathan shook his head and smiled at him. "No, I don't." he reassured him. "Just let me know if it gets too much for you. With me, Kevin or Jenna. Okay?"

Jack nodded and clinked the necks of their bottles together as a salute. "Will do," he answered him. "Will do."

 

****************************************************************

 

Jack realised when Nathan asked him about moving out just how much he liked the Scientist living with him. His presence was calming on evenings when it was just them, making Jack actually want to come home of an evening. When he had the kids Jack loved it – the place felt full again, Kevin and Jenna's things messing up his anal neatness, Jenna's laughter filling the empty spaces, Kevin's calm quiet acting as a counterpart to it. He loved watching Nathan be a father to them both, the expression of delight on his face when either of them did something that surprised him, made his face light up and he would grin at the Sheriff as he pointed it out. Jack helped him out as much as Nathan would let him, watching Kevin when Nathan was bathing/feeding or putting Jenna to bed, reading to Kevin, handing things he needed, helping him out if he asked, in his own way. Soon they had examples of Kevin's artwork all over the bunker, one wall of Zoe's old room turned over as his gallery. He helped with Jenna too, she seemed to be a happy baby, slept through most of the night, and between them the two men got into a pattern with looking after both children and each other. Jack was beginning to feel like he was part of a family again, a partner with someone he loved, someone he could relax with when the kids were asleep, unload any frustrations with after a hard day, take care of. Nathan gave him a reason to make sure he stayed healthy, and uninjured, something he had been ignoring before, he admitted to himself in the dark in the middle of the night.

Jack didn't want it to end, and he knew, if he didn't make his move, it would.

But he didn't want to push Nathan away by being too full on. Alison, despite agreeing with him to let their Scientist live again, had tried it about two months after April 29th, and it had backfired on her. Nathan had rushed home to change after dropping the children back off to her, had sent Jack a text to let him know she had invited him to stay to dinner, but he was back home with an hour, pacing the living room agitatedly explaining to his friend. Alison had been waiting in a low-cut dress, table set with candles, one of his favourite meals just finishing off in the oven, soft music on, and she had handed him a glass of his favourite wine while she had quickly put the kids to bed – Jenna already asleep, Kevin virtually there. He had been a bit wary then, even more so when she returned with a coquettish smile. "Now then," she said and played with a strand of her hair. "Shall we eat?"

It had gone downhill from there.

Nathan explained that he had tried to help her in the kitchen "as you and I do" he commented to Jack. "But she didn't want that, told me she didn't need it. Then," he added and threw up his hands in exasperation. "Then told me that she didn't expect me to do anything like this because she knew I wasn't 'domesticated'."

Jack could hear the speech marks he used for the last word in the sarcasm of his housemate's tone, and he smothered his laugh in his beer.

"I'm not a … a cow!" Nathan added which made Jack lose his control and he snorted a laugh.

"No, Nathan, definitely not a cow," he commented, amused when the other guy glared at him. "Then what happened?" he asked quickly, wanting to wind him up and let him loose, if only for the spectacle.

Nathan sighed but glared at him again, knowing what he was doing and why. "Then we ate," he continued, needing to let it out anyway. "And she spent most of it playing footsie with me, fluttering her eyelashes, and eating everything as if it was… I don't know!" he protested, turning on his heel and making another circuit of the living room. "As if it was supposed to be turning me on."

"Was it?" Jack asked him before he thought about it. He realised quickly he maybe shouldn't have, but then told himself he hadn't lied or hidden his attraction to the other man, so why couldn't he ask?

Nathan looked down at his feet and shook his head. "No, it didn't," he answered, shaking his head. "It made me uncomfortable," he admitted. "I just … I don't …" he stuttered and Jack hated to see the normally collected man so … uncertain.

"SARAH, scotch," he asked, and grabbed the glass of amber liquid, walking over to Nathan and handed it over. If his fingers lingered on Nathan's neither mentioned it. "It's okay," he assured him when Nathan took the glass with a nod and sipped some of it. "You're allowed to feel, Nathan," he commented. "If you didn't want to be there, you did the right thing."

Nathan studied him over the rim of his glass. "You're allowed to feel too, Jack," he reminded him. "Are you pleased I left?"

Jack paused for only a moment. "I'd be lying if I told you no, I wasn't pleased," he answered him truthfully. "My feelings for you haven't changed. I really like you and your kids here. I don't want you to go," he admitted. "Either to your own house, or to anyone else's."

Nathan smiled at him and sipped some more scotch – it was the good stuff, his favourite, and it must have cost the Sheriff to get a supply in for him. "That must have been difficult for you to say." he commented, steeping closer to the man. "Talking about feelings."

Jack nodded and drank some more beer. "You know me," he retorted, amused.

Nathan laughed and nodded, grinning at him and drank some more scotch. "I'm trying."

 

****************************************************************

 

So Jack tried to keep any outright flirting to a minimum, but it was difficult. He found himself falling into old habits, snarking with Nathan as they had done, arguments that were actually flirting, touching him gently to emphasize a point or to get his attention. If he was called to GD Jack always tried to seek Nathan out, if he wasn't in the midst of trouble of course, and it seemed the Scientist didn't seem to mind. In fact the one and only time Jack was called to an 'incident' (read as – world is about to explode) and didn't seek him out, Nathan found out about it and went to find him. The Scientist was pleased he did, Jack was in the infirmary getting a nasty cut on his arm sealed up and Nathan walked over to him with a frown. "What happened?" he demanded and laid a hand on the Sheriff's uninjured shoulder. "Will he be all right?" he asked the Doc treating him. "Why didn't you call me?" he added quickly, looking down at Jack.

The man in question leant back against him and sighed. "Some idiot scientist blew up her lab," he explained briefly and winced as the Doctor palpitated the ragged sides of his wound. "This is some shrapnel. It's not too bad, really," he tried to reassure him. "And you said you had that important meeting."

Nathan shook his head and let go of his shoulder only to embrace Jack's shoulders and hug him tight. "It wasn't that important." he grumbled, and watched as Doctor Sangupta expertly cleaned the wound on the inside of his right arm.

Nathan watched the treatment and didn't let him go, relishing in Jack leaning against him. He admitted to himself that he had mellowed a lot since he had returned, a lot of things that had annoyed him before now didn't and it was probably thanks to his virtually stress-free home life. It helped that he was still making up for time he had missed for work, catching up with everything, working with Henry mainly, Fargo and Zane too, and none of the stupid politics and budget requirements he'd had to deal with. He was pleased to leave those to Alison and concentrate on the science, adding things he had experienced while exploring the universe into it.

Before he would have been here if Jack was hurt, but not like this, not have the man lean against him while he was treated and hug the stuffing out of him when he tensed up and hissed in pain. And what had he missed by keeping himself so tightly controlled before he thought to himself as he gently nuzzled Jack's temple with his bearded chin.

Jack noticed the difference almost immediately – Nathan seemed to be more touchy-feely since he had hurt his arm, he took the Sheriff home after he had been sown up, arm supported in a sling and it was great. Nathan fussed over him, made sure he was within arms reach, laying hands on him when he could, and Jack didn't know whether he was doing it to reassure Jack or himself. He enjoyed it, the only touch Jack had had recently was an occasional slap from Henry or a check up from a medical professional so he wasn't going to stop him, and besides, it was Nathan, and he was grateful for anything he got from the taller man.

 

****************************************************************

 

Nathan knew, as Alison shoved Jenna's carrier at him that he needed to make his feelings plain to both Jack and Alison. He had been living at the Bunker for four months now, he was … happy there, much more than content, and he knew he had made his decision the first time he had gone home, to Jack, after another argument with Alison and let his friend soothe him with baseball, beer, pizza and garlic bread. He was more than a friend, more than a fuck buddy, and the only thing that would make their relationship better would be Nathan moving out of Lexi's old room into Jack's bed. He wasn't attracted to Alison any more, yes she was a beautiful woman, yes he loved her, but he wasn't in love with her and he didn't want her any more, the all – consuming passion he used to feel was no longer there.

For Jack though? For Jack it was different: he loved their easy camaraderie, the easy way Jack had of touching him, how he relaxed the moment he walked in to the Bunker, the way Jack snarked at him with a grin on his face that met his eyes. All wrapped up in his cute clumsiness, his almost amazing leaps of intuition that saved the day, and his pretty, pretty body. It was time, beyond time, he was home, and he was happy with Jack, but the one thing that would make him happier? Would be if Jenna would stop crying. She had been crying when Alison had thrust her carrier into his arms, and she hadn't stopped yet.

So he got her out of the carrier and cuddled her close, checking the way Jack had shown him that she didn't need a fresh diaper, and Alison had told him she had eaten about an hour ago. He walked with her, tucked under his chin, pressed against his chest while she sobbed real tears and clenched her hands into his shirt.

He walked round his office, talking to her, humming to her, using his free hand to rub her stomach, even trying her teddy bear, a gift from Jo, to calm her down. Nothing worked, and he was getting more upset and worried himself; so he made his way down to the infirmary, getting a few exasperated looks on the way.

She stopped crying, for a few minutes, when his doctor used his own hand held MRI scanner (patented now) and she smiled at him fondly when she assured him Jenna was fine. "Maybe you should take her home?" she suggested as Nathan gathered his daughter up again.

"Good idea, Carole," he agreed, and looked down at his daughter as she started to weep again. "Is it me?" he asked Jenna and pressed a kiss to her nose.

"No, Nathan," the doctor assured him as Jenna stopped for a moment anyway. "She's teething, crabby, and not having a good day, nothing else. You get like this every so often, apart from the teething, but all you do is yell at Fargo."

He gave her a wry smile and nodded. "True," he agreed. "Very true. Thanks for this," he added and settled Jenna against him again. "Come on, Jenna Love," he said to her and walked away with a friendly wave at Carole as he did so. She smiled and watched them go, wincing when she heard the baby start to cry again – at least her lungs were in good working order.

 

Jack got a call at about six PM and he checked his communicator. It was SARAH, and he frowned as he answered it. "SARAH, is everything okay?" he asked.

"I think you need to come home, Jack," the AI suggested. "Nathan is having problems with Jenna, and Doctor Blake is here and not helping matters." Her voice was hard, showing Jack she was not happy herself, and he stood quickly and nodded.

"I'll be right there," he told her, and quickly flicked the office phone to his mobile (he was on call) and quickly left the office. His Jeep was outside, and in a few minutes he was speeding back towards the Bunker, lights flashing, dodging past anyone silly enough to get in his way.

Nathan's car was parked in it's normal spot, almost as if he had measured it with a tape and a protractor, and Alison's SUV as if she had abandoned it by the door. He parked next to Nathan's, got out and jogged down into his house.

The noise hit him first: Jenna crying, Alison shouting, SARAH trying to calm her, and he quickly looked around the shambles of his living room. Nathan was standing in the kitchen, trying to ignore his ex wife while he hugged Jenna and tried to soothe her.

He looked awful, drawn, dark circles under his eyes, and Jack quickly made his way over to him. "Alison, shut up!" he snapped sharply at her as he strode past. "You're upsetting Jenna. What's going on?"

His tone and sudden arrival surprised the Director enough that she did stop, but only to turn on him with a livid glare. "You just had to do it, didn't you?" she hissed at him, but not quiet enough to keep it to themselves. "You had to be the hero and bring him back from the dead."

Jack frowned at her and glanced over at Nathan. He was staring at them both, but then turned back to his daughter. "We've gone through this Alison," he told her bluntly. "And you're too blind to see why we had to do it." He sighed and glanced over at Nathan again. "If you don't like it, well … that's your problem," he stated, and walked over to Nathan and ignored her. "Are you all right?" he asked him and gently laid a hand on his nearest arm.

Nathan shook his head. "I don't…" he replied, his normally strong demeanour gone for the moment. "Jenna wasn't, Alison… I don't…"

"It's okay," Jack replied and surprised him by pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Let me try with Jenna, you need to talk to Alison. Can you do that?"

Nathan reluctantly handed over his miserable daughter and watched the Sheriff with her for a moment. "I need to tell her I'm not choosing her, don't I?" he asked with a sigh and a shake of his head.

Jack nodded and untangled an arm to squeeze Nathan's in support. "I'm right here," he assured him. "I'm gonna take Jenna upstairs for a bath. If you need us, call. You know I'll come running."

Nathan nodded. "Kevin's already upstairs," he told him, which would explain the bags of things that were dumped on the couch. He stood back and watched while Jack took Jenna and himself up the stairs and out of view before he turned to face his ex wife.

Alison also watched Jack go and then glared at Nathan as he approached her. "What do you want, Nathan?" she asked him bluntly. "You need to make a decision, this is helping no one."

"I made a decision a few weeks ago, Alison," he replied, his tone grim, more like the Nathan of old. "And your actions of late, especially today, have reinforced it."

It took a few moments but Alison got it and she glanced back at the stairs, the way Jack had gone. "You're choosing him," she replied darkly and paused momentarily. "I should have known, that's why you got your lawyer involved with custody arrangements, isn't it?"

Nathan shook his head. "No," he told her truthfully. "That was to protect all four of us, from instability if we had another major argument."

"Like this one," she added with a sigh, and relaxed. "I'm not surprised, I've been acting…" She stopped and frowned at Nathan's slight smile.

"Like a banshee?" he commented dryly. "What was this one about?" he asked. "I wasn't listening, I have to admit."

Alison was going to start again, annoyed that he hadn't been listening, but stopped before she began. She had shouted at him over something stupid, upset her own daughter enough that Jack had had to take her away after Nathan had had to shield her from herself. "It wasn't worth it," she admitted. "Especially now."

"I'm sorry, Alison, for what it's worth," he assured her after watching her for a pregnant pause. "Really. I didn't want to hurt you, ever."

"I know," she agreed, and she did know he didn't go into this to hurt her, and neither, probably, did Jack. "Does he want you?" she asked him. "Are you sure?"

Nathan nodded and smiled to himself. He knew Jack did, it was the little things the Sheriff did for him as well as the big ones that did reassure him. "I'm sure," he answered and smiled at her. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked.

She nodded. "I will be, eventually," she answered him and then grabbed her for purse. "It's Friday, please bring Jenna and Kevin back on Sunday night," she asked him, and then left the bunker without a backward look.

Nathan sighed in a mixture of relief and regret, and then walked up the stairs to find his family.

Jack was in Zoe/Kevin's room, talking to the young man who had pushed a pile of drawings in his direction, while he expertly dried off a finally quiet Jenna. He looked up when the door opened and smiled at Nathan. "Are you all right?" he asked him, and tracked him as he walked in and sat down on the side of the bed.

"I'm okay," he agreed and nodded. ""We need to talk, but I'm okay."

Jack checked the clock on the wall and noted the time. "Okay," he answered. "Why don't I get these two in bed and we can talk in my room?" he suggested, and smiled again when the Scientist nodded. He reached out and ruffled Kevin's hair, the stood and pressed a kiss to his temple. "Go to bed, Kev," he told him, and turned to Jenna when he nodded. He kissed her too, studying her fondly – she was virtually asleep - and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder before he left them to it.

Jack watched him go and chuckled as he quickly dressed Jenna in a onesie and stood. Her cot wasn't very far away, Kevin didn't mind that she shared with him and by the time the Sheriff laid her down Kevin himself had gathered his things together and put them on the nightstand, and, since Nathan had already got him into his nightclothes before Alison had arrived, he climbed into bed and laid down. "Good night, Archimedes," Jack told him fondly as he tucked him in, and then left the room, turning the lights off as he did so.

It took only a few steps to get to his room and sure enough Nathan was there, looking at the photos Jack kept in there and looking tense. He turned when he heard the door open and put the frame down with a sheepish expression on his face. "I'm sorry," he apologised. "For that with Alison in your house, for leaving you with the kids."

Jack shook his head. "No need," he replied. "Just tell me what going on. I'm presuming you're not taking the kids home to Alison tonight?" he asked hopefully.

Nathan shook his head. "I've told her I don't want her," he let him know, and walked over to him. "She didn't like it, but there's no point in living a lie. That doesn't help anyone."

Jack nodded and watched him walk closer and couldn't help it, the guy was hot, tall, handsome, all hard planes and muscles, and he looked like a predator. Jack's libido sprung into life and he took a step towards him as well. "I'm hoping that means I've not been kicked to the curb."

Nathan shook his head and took the last two steps and found himself pressed against Jack's body. He slipped an arm around Jack's trim waist and used the other one to cup his face. "I hope you're not pissed with me for how long its taken for me to come to my senses?" the Scientist asked quietly as Jack embraced him, splaying his hands out across the small of Nathan's back.

Jack grinned at him and moved one hand up Nathan's strong back, over the nape of his neck and into his hair. "Just don't make me do it again," he murmured, and used his hand to encourage Nathan down to kiss.

The Scientist didn't need the encouragement, but the kiss was chaste at first, Nathan trying not to force himself on Jack, despite his need to do that. The Sheriff didn't like that; he pulled him closer, opened his mouth and pressed his tongue against Nathan's soft lips, demanding entrance. Nathan was pleased to comply and in between deep, exploratory kisses he manoeuvred the pair of them to the bed.

Jack laughed as he found himself shoved onto the surface, and he reached up for him as Nathan climbed on and straddled him. "I love you, Jack," the Scientist told him as he leant over him. "I promise not to fuck you over again. Will you have me?"

"Oh, I don't know," the Sheriff mused theatrically. "What's in it for me?"

Nathan chuckled and bent low over him to gently bite the spot just under Jack's ear, a spot that always got him hot and squirming. He laughed again when Jack gasped, and pulled away to look him in the eye. "Does that work?" he asked, amused.

Jack nodded and shoved his hands under Nathan's sweater. "Off, get this off," he demanded, and they quickly got back to old habits. It was easy; they stripped quickly and explored each other, reminding each other of where their hotspots were, of how they reacted to touches, what elicited the best reactions.

Nathan knew where Jack kept lube and condoms, and he put that knowledge, and those items, to good use.

Jack had missed this; the weight of Nathan on him, his thick cock buried deep inside him, his mouth and teeth producing an impressive hickey on his throat to match the others. He was addicted to this, he couldn't get enough, and he whispered the same into Nathan's ear as he wrapped his legs around him and urged him deeper. Nathan was happy to oblige, very happy.

Later, when they were snuggled together, Nathan lifted his head from Jack's shoulder and smiled down at him. "So, do you want me to go back to the spare room?" he asked him impishly.

Jack laughed quietly and used the arm he had around his waist to hug him. "No, Nathan," he assured him. "Don't do that."

So the Scientist didn't go back. Ever.

 

****************************************************************

 

Epilogue

Archimedes was bronze, not stone! What the hell did that mean, Jack thought to himself as he drove through the town in a panic. What the hell? Zoe? Nathan? Kevin and Jenna?

He abandoned the Jeep out front of his bunker and ran into his home. "SARAH?" he asked as the door opened for him.

"Yes, Sheriff?" the AI replied, and he relaxed minutely, she was still there at least.

"Is Zoe still at Harvard?" he asked her, and then turned when he heard a well-loved voice.

"Where else would she be, Jack?" his lover, partner answered from the couch.

Jack grinned at Nathan, sprawled on the couch in his favourite sweater and jeans. He sat up and studied him for a moment before he spoke again. "I thought you weren't going to dress up for Founders Day?"

Jack leapt over to him and onto the couch, straddling his hips as he threw his arms around him. "Nathan!" he crowed and kissed him, hard. "Are you okay?" he asked when they broke off.

The Scientist was surprised at his actions but not displeased and he held his hips with his large hands while he studied Jack's face. "I'm fine," he assured him. "Just waiting here for you." He canted his head to one side as it he was studying an experiment. "Are you all right, really, Jack? What's going on?"

Jack leant forward and kissed him again. "I've had a really busy morning," he started to explain, but the door opened again, letting someone in.

"Dad? Jack?" Kevin called as he jogged into the living room. Then he spotted them and covered his eyes. "Eww! PDA! Take it somewhere private!"

"Kevin!" Nathan said sharply at him, but he did, reluctantly, push Jack off him. "I thought you were going to play Xbox with Dre?"

"I am, but Mom is acting weird," the young man replied and headed to the kitchen. He was oblivious to Jack gaping at him in shock at his words and easy manner. The Kevin he knew was a high functioning autistic young man that he was incredibly fond of, not this teenager full of life and … attitude, but not in a bad way. Jack watched as Nathan got up but patted his shoulder before he walked out of range, and went over to the kitchen with him. The way they interacted as they made breakfast with each other showed Jack how close they were, and he smiled as he watched Kevin steal some bacon as Nathan dished it up. Things had changed, but Jack hoped as he stood to join them, not too much.

END!

**Author's Note:**

> This one took me an age to complete and has been on ff.net since then.


End file.
